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FIFTH EDITION. 

THE BEST READING; 
A CLASSIFIED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR EASY REFERENCE, 

WITH 

Mints on the Selection of JRooJts ; on the Formation of Libraries, 

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The Classified Lists, arranged under about 500 subject-headings, in- 
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# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i 


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Jo i 


lecter of a 


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"For referer 


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\ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 




" The arran< 


and money 


may be saved, 


liiu a great deal ui ueeiess iiuu uuitiui xiabii mai uv. u>«'J 


ed by con- 


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JUTKMSllliMlill 





Hints on Dress ; 



OR, 



WHAT TO WEAE, WHEN" TO WEAE IT, AND 
HOW TO BUY IT. 



BY 



ETHEL C. GALE. 




/u&4 



c 



NEW YOEK: 
G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 

FOURTH AYENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 

1872. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



10- io^f 






CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 

PAGB 

Costumes of the Assyrians and ancient Egyptians — Of the 
Greeks and Romans — Of the English, French and Span- 
ish — Progress of civilization illustrated by changes of 
costume 1 

CHAPTER n. 

"WHAT WE MEAN BY DRESSING WELL. 

Showing that we cannot be well dressed without attention 
to healthfullness, comfort, suitability, becomingness, and 
what we can afford 22 

chapter rn. 

THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 

Mentioning articles which form essential parts of the ward- 
robe of every woman 39 

CHAPTER TV. 

COLOB, FORM AND SUITABILITY. 

The effect produced by different colors upon various complex- 
ions — What colors can be worn together — What fashions 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

should be adopted by tall or short, stout or thin— What 
may be fitting upon different occasions and under differ- 
ent circumstances 48 

CHAPTER V. 

ESTIMATES OP COST. 

Containing detailed statements of the yearly cost of their 
dress from twelve ladies, all of whom are always respect- 
ably, and some of whom are handsomely dressed, upon 
less sums than are often expended for single costumes. . 63 

CHAPTER VI. 

HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 

Advice in regard to "bargains," etc. — Statements in regard 
to the prices and best qualities of all sorts of dress 
goods, gathered from the most reliable sources — Silks — 
Poplins — Cashmeres — Grenadines — Summer and winter 
materials — Muslins — Flannels — Cloths — Velvets — Furs — 
Gloves — Laces, etc 73 

CHAPTER VII. 

HINTS ON DEESS. 

Showing the duty of economy, and some ways in which it 
may be considered without detriment to taste 99 



HINTS ON DRESS. 



CHAPTER I. 

OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 

To commence a chapter relating to the vagaries of 
Fashion, with a quotation from so antiquated an au- 
thority as Solomon, may seem absurd ; but, in fact, no 
truth is more patent to one who has even slightly ex- 
plored the history of costume, than that "there is 
nothing new under the sun." 

True, the traditional fig-leaves of Eden would seem 
to bear but small resemblance to the silks and laces of 
Broadway ; but the fig-leaves could not but have been 
formed into something of a tunic shape, and what is the 
polonaise of to-day, but a much be-puffed and torment- 
ed tunic? The idea has been the same from Eve 
downwards. For shame's sake, as well as for warmth, 
we must be clothed ; but vanity at first, and afterwards 
taste, have turned the shame and the necessity into oc- 
casions of display, and aids to beauty. 

We say vanity first, for the traditions and remains 
of all nations show that taste in dress, as in all other 
arts, has been the slow growth of civilization and re- 
finement ; while love of mere show in attire has been 



2 HINTS ON DRESS. 

one of the most striking of barbarian characteristics. 
In exact proportion to a people's mental advance has 
been the decrease of its love of mere finery in apparel, 
and the increase of its attention to those primary ele- 
ments of beauty, form, proportion, color and fitness. 

Traditions may carry us back farther, but the first 
costumes of which we have any accurate knowledge, 
are those of the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, as 
displayed in the lately exhumed bas-reliefs of long- 
buried Nineveh, and in the sculptures and paintings 
discovered in the desecrated tombs of Egypt. These 
records of otherwise almost forgotten dynasties show, 
that while they had attained much skill in many of 
the useful arts, and could build temples and palaces 
which still astonish us with their grandeur, the ideas of 
these ancient peoples had not been turned so much to- 
ward beauty, as toward magnificence. 

Especially is this shown in matters of dress. Rich- 
ness of attire was the thing desired. If it is true, as 
has been said, that the tendencies of a people are as 
strikingly displayed in its costumes as in its laws, then 
the most elevated aims of all nations, previous to the 
rise of the Greeks, must have been the subjugation of 
their neighbors and the acquisition of wealth. Their 
garments seem formed with special reference to conve- 
nience, when attacking an enemy ; and to show, when 
triumphing over the vanquished. Grace of form is 
sacrificed to utility in time of war, and to cumbrous de- 
coration during the festivities of peace. Harmony of 
coloring is less considered than its vividness and 
quantity. Nature seems to have been entirely disre- 
garded, and cost to have been made the standard of 
beauty. Thus, if a dye-stuff is expensive, it must 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 3 

not only be used to color the robe, but the cheeks, 
the lips, the finger tips must be made flaming with 
scarlet, or ghastly with blue. As the possession of gold 
and of precious stones is a token of wealth and cor- 
responding social importance, the first must be wove 
into silk or linen garments till they become so stiff that 
the "line of beauty" is vexed into graceless angles; 
and the second are strung in glittering ropes about the 
head, neck, arms, ankles, or waist, till the whole over- 
loaded person seems ablaze with them. 

All this is, of course, with the higher classes. With 
the lower, there is not only no attempt at beauty, but 
none at even display. Vanity is ever a selfish senti- 
ment, and the powerful have never allowed their social 
inferiors to imitate, even at a distance, the extravagant 
costumes so complacently worn by themselves. For 
the laborers, three thousand years ago, there were no 
tunics heavy with gold, or robes of fine linen fretted 
with uncouth designs in toilsome needlework. The 
weaver of "purple, and scarlet, and fine linen," and the 
" cunning worker," in brass and in gold, wore only a 
coarse woolen apron, or at most, a short and sleeveless 
tunic of the same material, bound at the waist with a 
rope of camel's hair. 

It was not until the rise of the Greeks that dress, 
ceasing to be a mere exhibition of its wearer's rank and 
wealth, became an exponent of ideas of beauty. This 
race, always joy and beauty-loving, at first by tempera- 
ment and afterwards from cultivation, though devoting 
less time and labor to the manufacture of articles of 
dress than any of the great peoples that had pre- 
ceded, or were contemporaneous with it, was the first 
to make a fine-art of dress. Discarding all that was 



4: HINTS ON DRESS. 

cumbrous, gaudy and unnatural, they adopted cos- 
tumes which remain our best models of grace, and, in 
similarly genial climes, of utility. 

But it must not be inferred that the drapery of 
Grecian art is intended as a representation of the dresses 
worn in the common occupations of life. The drapery 
of the old Greek sculptors was founded on artistic 
principles and ideas — not on those of practical utility ; 
while the every-day dress, beautiful and simple though 
it always remained, was " conformed to the protection 
and comfort of the body, and the convenience of the 
wearer." 

The principal garment of either sex, when engaged in 
any industrial employment, was the chiton, a sort of long 
and large under-waistcoat, sometimes reaching to the 
feet, but often only coming below the knee. This was 
sometimes provided with two long sleeves, and was 
sometimes destitute of any ; but more frequently one 
arm was protected by a sleeve, while the other was left 
free, the garment being fastened on that side by a 
brooch on the shoulder. This one-sleeved variety was 
worn chiefly by laboring people. The chiton when worn 
by women was confined at the waist by a broad belt, or 
zone. 

The principal outer garment was the himation, a 
square piece of cloth, like a modern shawl, of more or 
less costly fabric, according to the means of the wearer. 
This was thrown over the left shoulder, drawn across 
the back to the right side, generally below the right 
arm, but sometimes over it, and again over the right 
shoulder or arm. Every lady of modern times knows 
that to carry a shawl well, requires both grace and 
adroitness on the part of the wearer. Therefore, it is 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 5 

not a matter of astonishment that the art of wearing 
the himation was one much studied by the young Athe- 
nians of both sexes who desired to acquire reputations 
as leaders of the ton. The brilliant Alcibiades was as 
vain of his proficiency in this art as of any of his more 
valuable attainments. 

In addition to the above two articles of universal 
wear, were several others in more or less common use, 
but all presenting the same general characteristics of 
freedom, lightness, and grace. 

All ancient nations with any pretensions to civiliza- 
tion used sandals, or shoes of some sort, but among the 
Greeks the art of shoe-making was carried to an almost 
Parisian degree of perfection, though shoes were not 
considered so much an article of constant necessity as 
of occasional utility ; and it was not. thought indecor- 
ous to receive visitors, or even, at times, to attend a 
banquet, with unshod feet. 

Hats, though well known, and of several styles, were 
little worn, save by travellers, or agricultural laborers. 
Under the warm suns of a Grecian summer, men and 
women carried umbrellas and parasols almost precisely 
like our own, only that they could not be closed. 

" And," says Pres. Felton, " let not our Broadway 
' swell ' imagine his race the first to whisk the slender 
cane with well-satisfied air ; for canes were known at 
least twenty-three centuries ago, being then sported by 
the degenerate descendants of Homer's spear-bearing 
heroes ; a faint reminiscence of that warlike weapon." 

Gloves were only worn by laboring people when en- 
gaged in work of a kind to stain, or otherwise disfigure 
the hands. 

In regard to the use of color, we see among the 



6 HINTS ON DEESS. 

Greeks as marked an improvement as in other respects, 
upon the ideas of less civilized nations. Although ac- 
quainted with all the more brilliant dyes used so freely 
by Syrians, Persians and Egyptians, all the glaring col- 
ors were shunned by the Greeks in dress, as being in 
bad taste, though they did not hesitate to employ tho 
gayest hues, as well as the richest embroideries, for 
spreads and canopies to beds, couches, etc. 

Jewelry, though worn in different degrees by all 
classes, was not put on in the tasteless profusion shown 
by the less cultivated nations of antiquity, and by 
some, even, of more recent date. 

But it was, perhaps, in the styles of hair-dressing 
practised by the Greeks, that their superiority over 
other races in regard to personal adornment is most 
manifest. Hair was regarded as an important acces- 
sory to the beauty of the face ; in the words of one of 
their authors — " a thing to make the handsome hand- 
somer ; the ugly more tolerable." Consequently they 
neither shaved it, nor hid it with turbans and caps, nor 
tortured it into towers, or wings of unnatural size, 
shape, and weight. Nor were their notions of the 
quantity of hair desirable on the human head so pervert- 
ed and exaggerated that they deemed it necessary to bor- 
row from other nations. The Greeks had many fash- 
ions of wearing the hair and beard, varying the style 
to suit the face and figure it was intended to adorn ; 
but while some of these might be considered an im- 
provement upon the natural manner of growth, none 
were wnnatural. 

In short, the whole graceful, harmonious and com- 
fortable costume of the Greeks was the legitimate out- 
growth of their superior mental and physical organi- 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 7 

zation. They loved beauty, as they loved pleasure, for 
its own sake. Their cultivated minds gave them an 
appreciation of all that aided or developed beauty, as 
well as enabled them to define and adhere to its 
laws. 

Having once discovered the beautiful, whether in 
nature or in art, they never suffered themselves to be 
seduced from its worship by the allurements of its dead- 
liest foe, personal vanity. 

Of no other nation can this be said. Even among 
the Etruscans, graceful and charming as their costumes 
were, and strongly resembling those of the Greeks, 
there is a falling away from the strict worship of 
beauty, marked by ostentatious profusion of ornament, 
and a useless accumulation of garments. 

The costumes of the early Romans were derived di- 
rectly from the Greeks, the tunica of the one correspon- 
ding with the chiton of the other, and the toga being 
only a fuller and larger himation. 

In addition to the tunica, and the toga, both sexes 
wore in bad weather a pcenula, or weather-shield, pre- 
cisely like the South-American poncho of to-day. This 
is a large square, or oblong piece of cloth, with a slit in 
the middle through which the head is thrust ; the 
poncho, or pcenula, then, falls nearly to the feet, but 
could be taken up at the sides on the hems if desired. 

The synthesis, a mantle shorter and more convenient 
than the toga, was used instead of the latter at ban- 
quets. 

Women habitually wore two tunics ; a short, sleeve- 
less one, called the tunica interim, was next the person, 
and one called a stola, made with sleeves, very full, and 
so much longer than tne figure that the superfluous 



8 HINTS ON DEESS. 

length was laid in folds around the waist. As an outer 
garment they wore a palla, or sort of shawl-cloak, re- 
sembling the masculine toga. 

At no period of their history were the Roman ideas 
of beauty so clear or so controlling as those of the 
Greeks ; but having a sincere reverence for this finer 
attribute of the elder nation, the younger adopted its 
costumes, and many of its customs, without question, 
devoting their own, perhaps grander, and certainly 
more aggressive intellects, to the founding and building 
up of a strong, free, and enlightened power. 

As a people, the Eomans were, from their first breath, 
exceedingly proud ; but pride differs from vanity in 
that it is not an enervating principle. Licentiousness 
and vanity go hand in hand, and as the Eomans be- 
came vain and sensual, the decay of their great power 
insensibly advanced. The progress of this decay can 
be as distinctly traced by the changes of costume as by 
the 'record of events. With the declension of the 
severe Eoman pride, which had held itself haughtily 
above such effeminacy, came an increased use of em- 
broideries, and of jewelry, and a greater attention to 
fineness of texture, so that the silks and fine needle- 
work, in the days of the Eepublic deemed only appro- 
priate for the despised courtesan, were, in the days of 
the Empire, sought by senators to make their magiste- 
rial robes. 

Some few of the innovations, however, sprung from 
a desire for increased comfort ; as, for instance, the 
adoption of the sort of trowsers called braccce — whence 
the term breeches — worn during the colder months. 
This was an importation from the conquered Britons. 
Later, other portions of dress were borrowed from Teu- 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 9 

tonic nations, and modern costumes seem to be the fan- 
tastic outgrowth of this commingling of civilization 
and barbarism, and of the requirements of widely dif- 
fering climates. During all the long centuries since 
the enervated Koman civilization was overpowered by 
the rush and energy of the rude Northern tribes, the 
struggles of a genuine love of beauty with a merely 
personal vanity, and of ideas of practical utility with 
the caprice of the moment, has resulted in continually 
varying styles, generally vying with each other in gro- 
tesqueness, discomfort, and costliness ; but occasion- 
ally — as in the case of the shirt — introducing some 
marked improvement. For this essential article of 
masculine attire, moderns are indebted to the Saxons. 
But it is mainly to the French, dating at least from the 
time of the Norman conquest of England, that the 
world of fashion owes most of its styles, both good and 
bad. 

The appearance of a distinct waist and skirt of a 
gown, is first noticed in the costumes of Queen Philip- 
pa, wife of Edward III., of England, and of Queen 
Jeanne of Bourbon, wife of the French Charles the 
"Wise, about the year 1360. Upon the lower edges of 
these waists, which are very long, reaching about eight 
inches below the natural line, the long and full skirts 
are laid in deep " side-plaits." The necks were cut 
half-low, and the sleeves long, and tight-fitting. A very 
little later than this, we begin to see long and full gored 
dresses of the style we now call "Gabrielle." Close- 
fitting basques appear soon after. 

Previous to the fourteenth century, ladies' dresses 
seem to have been cut in one length from neck to ankle, 
not fitted to the waist with seams, but bound with a 



10 HINTS ON DRESS. 

girdle, and fastened on the shoulders, and outside of 
the sleeves with brooches. 

Near the beginning of the fifteenth century, ladies 
began to drag about the long, unwieldy trains which 
have ever since, at longer or shorter intervals, afflicted 
their daughters. 

But in nothing has Fashion ever so displayed her 
entire indifference to beauty, utility, and comfort, as in 
the head-dresses she has from time to time devised, 
with a perverted ingenuity akin to that which invented 
the tortures of the Inquisition. 

Even in our own day we are sometimes forced to ex- 
claim at the ugliness and the unhealthy weight of the 
modern chignon, and at the piles of impossible-to-be- 
natural hair which Fashion has ordained. But let us 
be thankful, O sisters, that she has not yet condemned 
us to the frightfully ugly and wretchedly uncomfortable 
head-dresses of the fifteenth century. 

Margaret of Anjou, the heroic but ill-judged and 
ill-fated Queen of Henry VI. of England, has always 
been an object of pity for her many misfortunes. 
Among these we have never seen her head-dress men- 
tioned, but surely it deserves a prominent place. 
Imagine it ! A perpendicular tower of stiff gold net- 
work, filled in with velvet, and adorned with precious 
stones, the whole entirely concealing the hair, and ris- 
ing to a height of eighteen inches above the forehead. 
This substantial erection is said to have possessed the 
additional merit of weighing eight pounds. Is it any 
wonder that poor Queen Margaret complained of her 
" fevered brain ?" 

A little later in the same century the celebrated 
steeple head-dresses were worn. These sometimes con- 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. U 

sisted of a simple pointed roll of white linen rising to 
a height of eighteen inches from the head, covered 
with ample folds of fine white lawn, which floated to 
the ground, or were caught up under the arm. At 
other times the steeple was a structure differing from 
that worn by Queen Margaret only in shape, being 
made of the same stuffs, and equally high and heavy, 
but leaning backwards, like a miniature tower of Pisa, 
from the top of the head, terminating in a sharp point. 
Afterwards, two similar horns, diverging like those of 
a cow from the sides of the head, and each about two 
feet in height, were considered very stylish, especially 
when a long and heavily embroidered veil was suspend- 
ed from between them. 

During this century colored silks and velvets, richly 
trimmed with embroidery, or rare furs, or both, came 
into use among the higher classes. 

Various styles of head-dresses besides those described, 
any one of which it would delight the "King of the 
Cannibal Islands" to sport at one of his banquets, 
were invented by tyrannical Fashion for both sexes, and 
slavishly worn during this and the following centuries. 
But it was during the seventeenth century that Fashion 
achieved that triumph of the grotesque, the full and 
powdered periwig, which in some of its many forms 
crowned the masculine head for more than a hundred 
years. 

The mental advance of nations has rarely kept pace 
with their material growth. Consequently we observe 
that with the increase of wealth comes an increased love 
of display, without a proportionate love of beauty. A 
barbaric tendency to monstrous forms of personal 
adornment marks the entire period from the beginning 



12 HINTS ON DEESS. 

of the fourteenth till the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
turies. This of itself would show — even if we did not 
know from other sources — that notwithstanding that 
the latter half of this period is rendered illustrious by 
the most brilliant names in literature and art, the mass 
of all classes were uncultivated, save that among the 
higher orders a certain degree of external polish had 
been attained. ■ 

Within the above period are discovered the most hid- 
eous disfigurements which Fashion has -ever devised. 
But let it not be imagined that women only were under 
her thrall, for notwithstanding it cannot be denied that 
woman is, as she has been described by an ancient 
writer, of a surly and unfilial nature, " an animal ad- 
dicted to finery," we do not find that the female of the 
species is alone in the proclivity. 

Let us glance at the costume of a gentleman of the 
court of Richard the Second of England, in the latter 
half of the fourteenth century. The coat, which is 
of a vivid green color, plentifully sprinkled with gold 
stars, is similar in cut to the sacque of the present day, 
but belted at the waist by a broad gold band. The 
sleeves of this coat are long, and fit over the palm of 
the hand to form mits, or half gloves. Hose covering 
the entire leg, and fastened on the outside with gold 
buttons, are made of cloth of different colors, one leg 
being red, the other blue. On the left side. is suspend- 
ed from the belt a small blue velvet bag, weighted with 
heavy gold tassels. On the head is a low, round, 
brimless and visorless cap of scarlet turned up with 
white. 

More than a century later we find Henry, of Blue- 
Beard propensities, clad in a "frocke (or loose coat) of 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 13 

crimson velvet, embroidered all over with gold of da- 
mask, the sleeves and breast slashed and lined with 
cloth of gold, and tied together with great buttons of 
diamonds, rubies, and orient pearls." The shirts were 
" pinched " — i. e. plaited, and embroidered with gold, 
silver, or silk. The long hose, which before Henry's 
time had been made of cloth, were now of knitted 
silk. 

But Henry, with all his gay attire, never achieved 
anything as startling as the dress worn by the gallant 
lords who " danced attendance " on the whims of the 
younger, but more illustrious of his daughters. To 
whisper an insinuation against the " fardingales " worn 
by Elizabeth herself, may be thought scarcely polite in 
the days which have so lately endured the similar 
enormity of the " tilting hoops," and have not yet ban- 
ished the " panier ;" but the " trunk-hose" worn by the 
Earl of Leicester and his compeers, have so long disap- 
peared that they may be spoken of without offence. 

The " trunk-hose " were short and very full breeches 
of velvet, silk, satin or damask, of the brightest colors, 
gathered into tight bands at a short distance above the 
knee, and distended so that their wearers could attain 
the coveted circumference of nearly three yards about 
the hips, by a stuffing of curled horse-hair, or of bran. 
That is, one of these materials was always supposed 
to form the stuffing ; but in the latter part of the 
reign of James 1st — for the trunk-hose, seeming endow- 
ed with as much vitality as the derided but irrepressible 
hoop, endured with various modifications almost till the 
advent of Cromwell — the person of a young dandy un- 
der arrest for some crime (not an unusual thing with 



14 HINTS ON DKESS. 

the "gay cavaliers") was searched and the padding of 
his trunk-hose is thus recorded : 

"A pair of sheets, 
Two table cloths, 
Ten napkins, 
Four shirts, 
A hand glass, 
A comb, and 
A night-cap." 

Why this unlucky dandy should have thus made a 
peripatetic valise of himself is not mentioned. The 
offence for which he was under arrest was not that of 
petit larceny.. 

To return to the costume of the " magnificent Earl " 
and his contemporaries. 

Surmounting the trunk-hose was a long-waisted 
doublet, a sort of compromise between a vest and a 
coat, made of the richest material, and " quilted and 
stuffed, slashed, jagged, pinched and laced." Over the 
doublet were worn " as many varieties of coats and 
jerkins as there are days in a year. The short cloaks 
were of the Spanish, French, and Dutch cuts, and made 
of cloth, silk, velvet and taffeta of all colors, trimmed 
with gold, silver, and silk lace, and glass bugles, inside 
and outside being equally superb." The cap was of 
velvet, without brim or visor, but with a gold band 
about the head, and trimmed with a handsome plume. 
The shoes were trimmed with full rosettes of ribbon, 
the manufacture of which was then first introduced 
into England. The long stockings were of knitted 
silk, and generally of some gay color contrasting with 
that of the trunk-hose. 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 15 

But the crowning glory of the costumes of both sexes 
during the reign of Elizabeth was the stiff, grotesque, 
torturing " ruff." 

Ministers of every religion, from the ancient priest to 
the modern lay preacher, have always delivered jere- 
miads, and invectives, against the more remarkable 
freaks of passing fashion, therefore we cannot wonder 
that many pulpit orators assailed the ruff. One of 
these filters against the windmill of the time, tells his 
congregation that there is a " certain liquid matter call- 
ed starch, wherein the Devil hath learned the Holland 
washerwomen to wash and dive their ruffs, which being 
dry will then stand stiff and invincible about their 
necks.' 5 

Of course it is not to be imagined that any of the 
preachers' hearers who might have hitherto escaped a 
knowledge of this new invention of his unnamable Ma- 
jesty, would now seek to be instructed in its mysteries ! 
Human nature, as we all know, having ever manifest- 
ed an aversion to tasting forbidden fruit. 

At short and infrequent intervals through this 
whole period — from the beginning of the fourteenth to 
that of the eighteenth centuries — Fashion would con- 
sent, at the bidding of some monarch more tasteful 
than the ordinary, to banish for a while her propensity 
for the grotesque and the splendid. But she only 
" stooped to conquer," for after each such concession 
she indulged in yet more astonishing whimsies. In 
France these were often more ridiculous than in Eng- 
land ; for in that country Fashion has ever been more 
fickle than elsewhere, and in her haste to adopt the 
new, she has more often accepted the hideous or the 
comic. 



16 HINTS ON DEESS. 

We are not, for instance, accustomed to consider 
as especially beautiful the long-pointed bodice, the 
puffed sleeves, the big fardingale, the belligerent-look- 
ing ruff, and the bat-wing-like head-dress of Queen Eliza- 
beth. When descending the broad staircase at Hamp- 
ton Court, or proceeding through the halls of Kenil- 
worth, we fancy she must have borne a striking 
resemblance to a " ship-of-the-line " under full sail. 
But Elizabeth, in adapting, had greatly modified the 
costume of her foes across the Channel, especially by 
reducing the circumference of the shoulders from eight 
feet to five. If Elizabeth looked like a ship-of-the-line, 
a French lady of the court of Henry III. must have 
appeared as formidable, and as clumsy, as the whole 
unwieldy Spanish Armada! With her fardingale so 
very large about the hips, but allowing the heavy skirts 
to dangle as they pleased below ; with her excessively 
long and much be-padded waist; her enormous sleeves, 
puffed out by means of bags of down to a size sugges- 
tive of aerial voyages, an effect heightened by the pro- 
jecting eighteen-inch-wide wings of her flat head-dress; 
and with her stiffly starched ruff, sometimes two feet in 
width, this walking monument to the follies of Fashion, 
could never have seemed beautiful to any but the most 
perverted taste. 

As a rule, the Spanish costumes have always con- 
formed more nearly to true ideas of beauty than those 
of any other modern nation. The Spaniards have rarely 
adopted unnatural, ungraceful fashions. They have 
been too proud to be vain. Hence while their costumes 
have always been rich, and worn with a grace and ease 
peculiar to themselves, they have but seldom resorted 
to that vulgar excess of ornament, which has been such 



OUTLINE HISTOKY OF COSTUME. 17 

a blemish in the attire of peoples in most respects 
more enlightened than they. 

In England, during the reign of Charles I., the 
costumes of both sexes were approximated to those of 
Spain, and are always quoted as being the most pictu- 
resque England has ever been able to boast . 

A dress of Charles I. is thus described : " A dark 
green velvet doublet, with broad and soft lace collar 
gathered on a band, and tied at the throat with cord 
and tassels ; and with wide ruffles at the wrists turned 
back, scalloped, and trimmed with lace. Breeches of 
the same material and color as the doublet tied below 
the knee." (Charles himself had abandoned the gro- 
tesque trunk-hose very early in his reign, though many 
did not relinquish them till after the days of the Crom- 
wellian Kevolution.) "Ked stockings, black shoes, 
with dark green shoe-roses, and a short red cloak lined 
with blue, with a gold star on the shoulder, completed 
this costume." 

The dress of one of his gay young cavaliers re- 
sembled that of the king, but was much and fantasti- 
cally embroidered. Over the right shoulder passed the 
sword belt, wrought and presented by his " ladye-love," 
and in it was hung the short Spanish rapier. In the 
flapping beaver hat was worn a plume of feathers con- 
fined by a jewel. 

Though more brightly colored, and more fanciful 
than would now be considered manly, the dress of 
Charles the First was in undeniably good taste ; and 
that of his Queen, with its full flowing skirt, its half- 
close sleeve, its falling collar edged with rich lace, and 
the natural hair worn in graceful ringlets, was both 
simple and elegant. Amid much that was better lost, 



18 HINTS ON DRESS. 

the stern Puritan zeal of Cromwell and his followers 
swept away these picturesque costumes, and upon the 
accession of Charles the Second they were not restored 
in their purity. As the court of Charles II. had de- 
generated in morality from that of his father, so had 
it in dress. The chivalric character of both costume 
and society had deteriorated — the one into grotesque- 
ness, the other into license. 

From a dramatic pastoral written in this reign, we 
extract a catalogue of articles considered necessary to a 
lady's toilet, by contrast with which we think even a 
modern belle's list of essentials might seem moderate. 

"Chains, coronets, pendens, bracelets, and ear rings ; 
Pins, girdles, spangles, embroyderies, and rings, 
Shadornes, rebutaines, ribbons, ruffs, cuffs, falls ; 
Scarfes, feathers, fans, masks, muffs, laces, cauls ; 
Thin tiffanies, cobweb lawn, and fardingales ; 
Sweet fals, vayles, wimples, glasses, crisping pins ; 
Pots of ointment, combs, with poking sticks and bodkins ; 
Coyfes, gargets, fringes, rowles, fillets, and hair laces ; 
Silks, damasks, velvets, tinsels, cloth of gold ; 
And tissues with colors of a hundred fold. 
» * * * * * * * * 

"Waters she hath to make her face to shine ; 
Confections eke to clarify her skin ; 
Lip salves and cloths of a rich scarlet dye 
She hath, which to her oheeks she doth apply ; 
Ointment wherewith she rubbeth o'er her face, 
And lustrines her beauty's dying grace." 

Later than this, in 1719, during the reign of the first 
George, we find a priced list of garments denominated. 
" essential " to every lady's wardrobe. 

The aggregate cost amounts to about $2,000, which, 
when the difference in the value of money, and the fact 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF COSTUME. 19 

that very few articles of daily utility are enumerated, 
are taken into account, would make the actual outfit 
nearly or quite equal to a $10,000 trousseau in our 
day, and sufficiently shows that the outcry against ex- 
travagance, and the cause for it, are not peculiar to 

the nineteenth century. 

£ s. d. 

Smock of Cambric Holland 2 2 

Marseilles quilted petticoat : 3 6 

Hoop petticoat covered with tabinet 2 15 

French or Italian quilted silk petticoat 10 

Mantua and petticoat of French brocade 78 

French point, or Flanders lace head-dress, 

ruffles and tucker 80 

English stays 3 

French necklace 1 5 

Flanders lace handkerchief 10 

French or Italian flowers for hair 2 

Italian fan 5 

1 pr. English silk stockings 1 

1 pr. English shoes 2 10 

French girdle 15 

Cambric handkerchief 10 

French kid gloves 2 6 

" a-la-mode hood (black) 15 

l « laced hood 5 5 

" embroidered bosom-knot 2 2 

11 garters 15 

Pockets, Marseilles quilting 1 5 

Muff 5 5 

Sable tippet 15 

Lining Italian lutestring 8 

1 pr. thread stockings 10 

Turkish handkerchief 5 5 

Leghorn hat 1 10 

Beaver hat and feather (riding) 3 

Hiding habit 47 10 

Three dresses for masquerade, two from Venice 36 

Parisian dress of green velvet a la sultane . . 123 15 



20 HINTS ON DKESS. 

From the Eestoration of Charles the Second to the 
present day has proceeded, with all the varying fortunes 
of war, the struggle between French art and Puritanic 
severity ; the old aristocratic ideas of caste, and the 
democratic ideas of utility ; with an occasional gleam 
of good taste on both sides. The greatest shock to 
the old ideas and ways being given by the French Re- 
volution. The costumes adopted by the sa?is culottes, 
the Communists of that day, though as utterly tasteless 
as any that could well be devised, yet embodied the 
principle of utility which has ever since held its ground 
in the costumes of men, and to a certain extent in 
those of women, though over the latter Fashion still 
reigns supreme, and concerning her it is only necessary 
to quote the words of Hazlitt : 

" Fashion," says this brilliant essayist, " constantly 
begins and ends in two things it abhors most — singu- 
larity and vulgarity. It is the perpetual setting up and 
then disowning a certain standard of taste, elegance and 
refinement, which has no other formation or authority 
than that it is the prevailing distraction of the moment ; 
which was yesterday ridiculous from its being new, and 
to-morrow will be odious from its being common. It 
is one of the most slight and insignificant of all things. 
It cannot be lasting, for it depends on the constant 
change and shifting of its own harlequin disguises ; it 
cannot be sterling, for, if it were, it could not depend 
on the breath of caprice ; it must be superficial to pro- 
duce its immediate effect on the gaping crowd ; and 
frivolous to admit of its being assumed at pleasure by 
the number of those who affect to be in the fashion to 
be distinguished from the rest of the world. It is not 
anything in itself nor the sign of anything, but 



OUTLINE HISTOEY OF COSTUME. 21 

the folly and vanity of those who rely upon it as their 
greatest pride and ornament. It takes the firmest hold 
of weak, flimsy, and narrow minds ; of those whose 
emptiness conceives of nothing excellent but what is 
thought so by others. That which is good for any- 
thing is the better for being widely diffused. But 
fashion is the abortive issue of vain ostentation and ex- 
clusive egotism ; it is haughty, trifling, affected, servile, 
despotic, mean and ambitious, precise and fantastical, 
all in a breath — tied to no rule, and bound to conform 
to every rule of the minute." 



CHAPTER II. 

WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 

The standard of good dressing varies much — as we 
all know — in different parts of the world. The King 
of Waganda, for instance, thinks himself, and is fancied 
by his subjects, to be in the best possible array when 
attired in a white sheet and a necklace ; and the mon- 
arch of the Fiji Islands is radiant over the possession 
of a coat, regardless that he has no corresponding 
" nether garments ;" while the beautiful ex-Empress of 
the French could never have been better satisfied with 
her choicest toilette, than is the muddy-hued Queen of 
Otaheite, with her numerous strings of gay-colored 
beads, and the scanty folds of the not over-clean dra- 
pery she wraps about her hips. 

On account of this difference of opinion, it is well at 
the outset to define what we mean by dressing well. 

We certainly do not mean that to be well dressed it 
is necessary to be in the extreme of the mode ; nor 
that it is essential that a certain amount of money 
shall have been expended. We do not even mean that 
we think a person really well dressed, although in 
form, color and material the costume may be perfect, 
unless other elements are also taken into considera- 
tion. 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 23 

The first of these essentials we consider to be health. 

No person is well dressed who is not attired with 
reference to this. The prettiest muslin ever brought 
from India, made up in the latest style, and that most 
becoming to the wearer, loses all its prettiness if worn 
on an evening when a cashmere would be more com- 
fortable. The most beautiful lace mantle ever wrought 
in Chantilly, if worn in a December snow-storm would 
not look as well as a rough blanket shawl ; for all ob- 
servers would feel that the wearer was inviting a quick 
consumption. In these cases every one can recognize 
the sense of discomfort which would render the fine 
fabric less agreeable to the eye than the coarser ; but 
there are other violations of the laws of health, which, 
being more usual, would attract less observation. 

It is not our intention to preach a long sermon 
against tight lacing, for the woman who has drawn her 
waist into the meagre bounds admired by a perverted 
taste, (by the same process giving to her shoulders a 
most disproportionate size,) and who is thus every day 
violating her own constitution, and shocking artistic 
eyes, is incorrigible. If, after it has been proved time 
and time again, that sudden death is the not infrequent 
result of tight lacing, and that failing this, a lifetime of 
suffering is the sure penalty, a woman will still persist 
in the practice, we suppose there is no help for her ; at 
least we feel sure that no words of ours will avail. If 
she will suffer, she will. But, in the name of the good 
sense she so defies, we adjure her not to imagine her- 
self well dressed ; for though her costume may be 
perfect in respect of color, material and fashion, it f;iils 
in the two important requisites, — healthfulness and 
symmetry of form. 



24 HINTS ON DRESS. 

Said an elderly gentleman one day, " Where do the 
girls get such perverted notions of beauty ? Here were 
my own daughters, never were taught anything of that 
sort at home, but when they returned from school 
they were drawn up in packs of torturing bones, 
till they looked as pinched and starved as weasels. 
Couldn't walk forty rods without fainting ; couldn't 
take a long breath ; couldn't laugh ; couldn't do any- 
thing, but look as miserable as if they were on their way 
to the gallows ! I told the girls I'd disown 'em if they 
didn't take the things off ; and so they did, and soon 
looked like themselves again. But what in the world 
possessed 'em to deform themselves in that style in the 
first place ? Where did they get the notion ?" 

Poor, puzzled Pater-familias did not remember that 
he had just said his girls came home from school encased 
in steel. The idea that a disproportionately small waist 
is beautiful, is one of the many immature and epidemic 
fancies of sweet sixteen. Once let it enter a school, 
and in spite of physiology, and the teachers, it spreads 
like the measles. If a girl lives to be twenty years 
of age without falling into the practice of tight 
lacing, her innate good sense and taste may be trusted 
to prevent her ever doing so. But in this, as in other 
things, the bending of the twig has much to do with 
the inclination of the tree, and the taste once so per- 
verted that it discovers beauty in an unnaturally 
small waist, there is little hope of reform till when, too 
late to restore the lost symmetry, the vanished color, 
the elastic step, and the free respiration, the " doctor's 
orders " have banished the offending corset, and with it 
the heavy, dangling skirts which are its almost invari- 
able accompaniment. 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 25 

We do not like to say that a woman in a low-necked 
gown is never well dressed, for there are many 
women to whom the style is becoming, and a few to 
whom the absence of clothing about neck and arms is 
decidedly more comfortable than its presence. Bat to 
the majority, " full-dress " at the ball to-night signifies 
a wretched cold to-morrow ; and a frequent recurrence 
of such colds has a significance, the thought of which, 
if it were allowed to intrude itself, would not enhance 
the pleasures of the evening. 

As " constant dropping wears away rocks," we might 
hope for some improvement in the healthfulness of the 
fashion of dress, from the incessant squibs of the 
merry and the expostulations of the earnest, if only — 
the moment a slight impression is made — ingenious 
fashion did not whisk away the offending article, merely 
to substitute another equally dangerous and absurd, 
but diverse. 

Thus, in the days of our grandmothers, delicate kid 
slippers were thought the only proper footing for a lady, 
and in spite of threatening consumptions, they were 
worn in fair weather and in foul, upon chilly pavements 
or on muddy roads ; until, set upon by doctors and 
jokers, they were fairly scolded and hooted from the 
streets. 

Then we are allowed a thick, comfortable, high 
ankled shoe, with even the privilege of wearing a rub- 
ber overshoe in wet weather ; and, congratulating 
themselves upon the victory of common sense over 
fashion, the doctors and jokers turn their remonstrances 
and jests in another direction, when — presto ! we have 
the thick shoe, to be sure, but mounted upon such a 
heel ! And that heel brought forward till it presses di- 



26 HINTS ON DKESS. 

rectly under the tender hollow of the foot. And not 
only this, but after the poor foot has been forced to 
shift the duty of carrying the body from the heel, to 
which it rightfully belongs, upon the toes, which, at 
most, should only be considered as assistants, to do the 
light work, behold ! the toes are so tightly encased in 
their leathern prison that they have no room to act 
freely. 

Again, the grave and the merry have turned their 
shafts upon the foot-gear, and we wish them all success, 
but are sure that, if they attain it, the victory will be but 
transient. Fashion will soon intrench herself behind a 
new fortification of follies, or cunningly retire to an old, 
one long forgotten, there to laugh at her pursuers. 

If fashion's assailants achieve no more, they at least 
accomplish this : she is not allowed to kill all her vic- 
tims in the same way. If the thin slippers invited 
pneumonias, and the narrow quarters for the toes in- 
duce abundant and torturing corns, while the high heels 
are devoted to the extension of spinal complaints, or 
the more immediate danger of breaking the wearer's 
neck, there is at least a pleasing variety in the modes 
of assassination. 

But is it necessary that we should be thus tormented, 
and slowly murdered, in order to be well-dressed ? 
Scout the notion, all ye daughters of Good Taste ! You 
know it is not. That, in fact, the ideas of pain and 
danger connected with these torturing fashions, destroy 
all the pleasure which the sight of an otherwise well- 
dressed women would afford. 

The second point which we would consider essential, 

is NEATNESS. 

So obvious is this that it might be sujDposed entirely 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DKESSED. 27 

superfluous to mention it, did not our eyes too often 
convince us that it is not always considered. 

We do not mean that the eyes of those who move in 
respectable circles are often offended by the absence of 
strictly personal cleanliness, though the writer has an 
unhappy recollection of once having been confined for a 
trip of two hundred miles in the same car-seat with a 
woman faultlessly attired, and — what was more surpris- 
ing — apparently of cultivated mind and manners, whose 
neck and ears had long felt the need of soap and water; 
but we often see much-be-draggled clothes worn by 
women who consider themselves entitled to be called 
ladies. But in whatever circle she may move, we feel 
certain that the woman cannot be self-respecting who 
can trail a long skirt across a muddy street, entailing 
not only the ruin of the dress, but the certain be- 
daubing of stockings and underclothes, with which the 
soiled petticoats must come in contact. 

And that there are many women thus unfortunately 
devoid of self-respect, the daily scenes in our streets 
assure us. Who cannot recall the sight of elegant 
velvet cloaks worn above dresses of costliest silk, the 
skirts of which have been trailed through mud and 
dust, till ornamented with a fringe not to be found for 
sale on Stewart's counters, and dyed of a nasty color 
like nothing on earth but itself. 

Of course it is always conceded that a woman who 
can thus recklessly allow a dress to get in this condition, 
has but a short time enjoyed the privilege of dressing 
herself fashionably and expensively, and it is often sus- 
pected that a woman so destitute of delicate womanly 
instincts must be degraded to the lowest moral level. 
But though we may charitably remember that some of 



28 HINTS ON DRESS. 

these are kind-hearted and well-meaning women, we 
know that they are destitute of refinement, and of com- 
mon sense, and the expressive terms " shoddy," or 
" petroleum," will involuntarily flash across our minds 
whenever we see one of these richly dressed, but be 
draggled women, who, whatever their wealth or their 
ambition may be, deserve no better name than that of 
" common slovens." 

Another point in which neatness is often offended, 
and by those, too, who would know better than to drag 
costly materials through the mire, is in wearing " ahout 
house" shabby finery, rather than neater and plainer 
dresses. There are many who seem to imagine that 
when wearing an antiquated, spotted, and even ragged 
silk, they are better dressed than when attired in some- 
thing that, though whole and clean, is of plainer fash- 
ion and material. "Whereas there is nothing that so re- 
calls the sight of certain groups of three tarnished gilt 
balls, to be seen over sundry dingy windows on the 
Bowery ; and one cannot help wondering whether the 
woman wearing this mass of dilapidated flouncing, 
fringe, and lace, has just been fitted out at " her 
uncle's," or whether she is just about to proceed to his 
premises to dispose of the wretched assortment. Infi- 
nitely better does a woman clad in a simple, but fresh 
and tasteful calico, deserve the epithet, well-dressed, 
than one attired in the most expensive materials, if 
these by long use, or from any other cause, have become 
soiled or frayed. 

The same is true, in even greater degree, in regard to 
under-clothes. The most elaborate needlework only 
adds to the disgust one feels if the garments it adorns 
are begrimed or torn ; while those of plainest fashion, 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 29 

if clean and whole, or neatly mended, are always pleas- 
ing to the eye. 

Our third essential to good dressing is, becoming- 

NESS. 

One may be attired in the most healthful of costumes, 
and both person, and every article of clothing may be 
in the most spotless condition, and yet shock the eye of 
taste. 

To be well-dressed, one must alwaj's take into con- 
sideration the complexion, age, features, and figure of 
the wearer, and the harmony of the different parts of 
the costume. Thus the brunette cannot wear the deli- 
cate shades so beautiful for the blonde ; and the woman 
of sixty becomes ridiculous if tricked out with the flut- 
tering ribbons and bright colors appropriate at sixteen. 
The sylph who scarcely turns the scales at a hundred 
pounds, cannot carry the flowing mantles which have 
become necessary to obscure the too expansive outlines 
of the matron, whose position in a carriage is sufficient- 
ly indicated by the condition of the springs. The 
woman whose sharp, hatchet-like features seem fash- 
ioned to hew her way through the world, should not 
follow the Japanese style of hair-dressing ; nor should 
the woman whose head resembles a large red cabbage, 
deck herself in big butterfly bows of scarlet ribbon, a 
jaunty little round hat, and a chignon, emulating the 
proportions of the Rotunda of our National Capitol. 

Neither should there ever be a mixture of unconge- 
nial colors and materials. About color we shall speak 
again, and in regard to inharmonious materials it might 
seem unnecessary to say much, did we not know that 
this is a point frequently forgotten. Thus, who cannot 
remember having seen a rich silk trimmed with 



30 HINTS ON DRESS. 

guipure-lace, or even with a cheap imitation thereof ; or 
a heavy cashmere adorned with " real " Chantilly ; or 
a point-lace collar worn with a plain merino dress ? 

And this, too, not by people who are careless in mat- 
ters of dress, but by those who, from vanity or ostenta- 
tion, pay to it a good deal of misdirected attention. 
These are the persons who will wear a costly India 
shawl over a morning wrapper when taking an early 
drive in the Park, or undergoing the fatigues of a shop- 
ping excursion ; who will wear diamonds and a calico 
dress at breakfast ; and an expensive silk with lava pin 
and ear-rings at a dinner party ; w 7 ho will don snowy 
ermine furs over a somewhat passee alpaca suit when 
attending to the family marketing, or a beautiful velvet 
cloak which cannot hide the kid gloves so soiled and 
worn that they would scarcely suffice to protect the 
hands of the housemaid while emptying the ashes 
from the grate ; who will wear a silk over-dress with 
a calico skirt, or an alpaca with a grenadine ; or who 
will mount a lace bonnet over a water-proof * cloak. 

Does any one fancy these to be imaginary cases of 
incongruity ? We wish they were ; but they are all 
" studies from life," and a little observation at hotels, 
on steamboats and cars, and on the streets, even if the 
social circles each moves in do not afford such examples, 
will convince the incredulous that we have mentioned 
only a few of the most obvious violations of good taste 
in this respect. 

It is a good rule to wear at the same time only articles 
of a corresponding price, fineness of texture, and pre- 
sent condition. 

Then one will never be seen with an over-dress of 
Lyons velvet, and a skirt of serge; though both may be 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 31 

new, and the serge as good in its place as the velvet. 
Nor with a lace shawl over a cloth dress ; nor with an 
elegant new bonnet accompanied by an old and shabby- 
wrap ; nor yet shall we attempt to make a " dowdy" 
dress look fresh by adorning it with bright new ribbons 
and neckties. 

Our fourth point, without attention to which we 
cannot be considered well dressed, is, what we can hon- 
estly AFFORD. 

So universal is the notion that " fine feathers make 
fine birds," that it is in too many cases forgotten that 
it is impossible for any to be considered well dressed, 
who have exceeded not merely the actual, but the pro- 
portionate limits of their purses. Thus, a woman who 
has an income of but $600 over the sum necessary for 
her board, even though she does not run a penny in 
debt, yet if she expends that amount upon her dress, 
has transgressed the rules of good taste. She who is 
attired in a more expensive manner than her income 
will warrant, can never be well dressed. Good Sense 
and Good Taste are Siamese twins ; when the one is 
ignored the other is slighted ; when the one is wounded 
the other feels the hurt. And Good Sense imperatively 
demands that health, duty to others, the cultivation of 
the mind, and a provision for the future, should all be 
taken into consideration before the mere decoration of 
the person. 

In our land Good Taste — rudely treated though it is 
in so many ways — is probably not so often violated in 
any one thing as in this matter of disproportionate ex- 
pense. It is perhaps a natural, but not the less an un- 
fortunate result of the chaotic state of our society. The 
wives of " merchant-princes " fancy that, in order to 



32 HINTS ON DRESS. 

carry out the democratic " free and equal"' idea, they must 
emulate the attire of other Princesses, and not being 
" to the manner born," are very apt to over-do the 
matter, and wear on a toilsome round of shopping, or 
during a social evening at home, costumes which those 
they ignorantly strive to imitate would reserve for an 
" occasion of state," or for an appearance- at an opera. 

These would-be Princesses of ours are not quite so 
fond of the " free-and-equal " idea as applied to those 
beneath them in what forms their standard of social 
importance, the possession of money. But the wife of 
the clerk expires with envy if she cannot wear as fine a 
dress as the wife of the senior partner in " the firm;" 
and as there is no sumptuary law to prevent her wear- 
ing anything she likes, and can procure, domestic com- 
fort, future independence, the education of her children, 
and her own mental improvement, are frequently all 
sacrified to obtain the coveted article of dress. 

This desire for mere richness of attire at such an 
expense of all that should make life valuable, is often a 
species of insanity, and is all the worse that it is apt to 
assume an epidemic form. This may be noticed espe- 
cially in our cities. Let a little church be started in 
some quiet street ; a church at which for awhile only 
plain people, devout worshippers of God, attend. By 
and by, from some reason, a " dressy " woman begins 
to frequent this humble church. It may be that she 
personally does not transgress our rule of dressing in 
proportion to her means, but to emulate her elegance of 
toilet would tax to the utmost the resources of those 
among whom she has just come. She may make no 
acquaintances among the congregation, but insensibly 
each feminine member of it gets to spending, week by 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 33 

week, a trifle more money and a good deal more thought 
on her attire, until finally the epidemic has become rag- 
ing, and scarce half a dozen of the original God-fearing 
assembly have escaped the contagion. 

The same result, though in a less marked degree, is 
often seen to follow the advent of a fashionable family 
into a quiet street. It becomes mortifying to Mrs. 
Smith, whose best winter suit is a cashmere, and most 
elegant summer costume a prettily trimmed black gre- 
nadine, to see Mrs. Brown passing up and down the 
steps, and sometimes appearing at the windows of the 
opposite house, clad in the loveliest of velvets and laces ; 
and especially mortifying, if Mr. Smith discovers that 
Mr. Brown's income is not larger than his own. Morti- 
fying, that is, if, as is too often the case, Mrs. Smith was 
educated to consider personal appearance as of more 
value than her husband's reputation for honor and ho- 
nesty, or than her own for good sense and taste. 

That this envious sensibility to mere show should 
exist among persons otherwise sane, is incomprehen- 
sible, but the fact is patent. It is found in all classes, 
and is an evil only shaken off by the exertion of strong 
good sense and taste on the part of some, and of a re- 
ligious conviction of its wickedness on that of others. 

The-self supporting woman who receives a salary of 
$1,000, from which she must pay all her expenses, often 
ruins her health by taking very " cheap board," a term 
which implies a deficiency both in quantity and quality 
of food, as well as the occupancy of a small but uncom- 
fortable room ; starves her mind by robbing it of its 
proper supply of good reading ; narrows her heart, be- 
cause she " cannot afford" to increase its riches by 
sparing from her salary a little for those who are poorer 



34 HINTS ON DRESS. 

than she ; and cheats her future by allowing her to 
save nothing " against a rainy day ;" all that she may 
have the means to dress in what is, after all, but a 
shabby imitation of the elegance of attire achieved by 
the object of her admiration, the cotton manufacturer's 
daughter. No one whose thoughts are given to this 
pursuit can grow mentally, and between the daily duties 
and the labors of " altering over," of trying to make old 
dresses " look as good as new," the time of our would- 
be butterfly is so taken up that she cannot spare any 
for the open-air exercise health demands, and before 
she is thirty years old the poor victim to false notions, 
instead of the fresh, vigorous, genial, intelligent person 
she should be, has become a faded, singular, wizened 
specimen of perverted womanhood. 

The same story repeats itself in every walk of life, 
the only exceptions being those who have emancipated 
themselves from the prevailing notion that the standard 
of taste and expense set by the very rich, must be fol- 
lowed as closely as possible by all. That it requires 
some independence of mind to effect this emancipation 
cannot be denied ; but when effected, it brings its re- 
ward in many ways. One of these is that we are sure 
not to be made ridiculous by wearing humble imitations 
of unattainable elegances of toilet ; while we may al- 
ways be dressed comfortably, neatly, and becomingly, if 
we so choose, with the added satisfaction of knowing 
that we are wearing only what we can well afford, with- 
out detriment to any duty owed to ourselves or to 
others. 

The fifth point which we should consider, is, our 
station in life. 

In some respects this may seem to come under the 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 35 

preceding head, for in this country, unfortunately, social 
position is often determined by the number of thou- 
sands one possesses. 

But, happily, this is not always the case. There are 
instances where the ownership of enormous wealth will 
not secure an entree in good society, and other instances 
where poverty — if accompanied by brains and goodness 
— cannot exclude from its precincts. If society univer- 
sally deserved the name of " good," the matter of dollars 
would never make a breath of difference in the position 
of its members. Men and women would stand or fall 
in its estimation by reason of good or bad breeding, of 
kindness or unkindness, of intelligence or ignorance, of 
virtue or vice, of their promise for the future, or of what 
they have already nchieved. 

But as the vulgar tyranny of the " almighty dollar " 
is still endured even by many who inwardly revolt at it, 
it becomes necessary to state that when we say that 
one's station in life should be considered, we do not 
mean that because one is the luckless possessor of 
millions, without a corresponding education and 
"breeding," we should think ourselves entitled to be 
decked with all the jewels of a monarch or the silks 
of the East. If the " Lily of Poverty Flat " has not 
the tastes and the cultivation which without her dollars 
would entitle her to a foremost place in the social ranks, 
she should not flourish about in the diamonds and the 
laces of a princess. To allow one's dress to outshine 
one's self, is in the very worst possible taste, and no 
lady will ever be guilty of the offence. Neatly and be- 
comingly attired one should wish to be at all times, but 
it is far better to have it remarked, " How plainly Mrs. 



36 HINTS ON DKESS. 

Robinson dresses," than. " How wretchedly over-dressed 
that Mrs. Jones always appears." 

In addition to the social distinctions made by wealth 
and cultivation, there are others, though but slightly 
defined, conferred by the " bread-winner's " calling, and 
by the length of time during which a family has been 
received into society. 

These distinctions, though acknowledged by all, are 
so vague that no rule can be given, save the ever safe 
one, In all cases prefer simple elegance to mere display. 
It is far better that the wife of our President should 
appear in a plain alpaca, than that the daughter of a 
Treasury-clerk should disport herself in velvets and 
diamonds. 

Our last point is, present occupation. 

By which we mean, not our profession or calling, but 
the business or pleasure in which we happen to be en- 
gaged at the moment. Thus, we would not appear at 
breakfast in the attire which would be suitable at din- 
ner ; nor at an evening party in the toilet we should 
wear when shopping ; nor at church in the costume in 
which we should appear at an opera. 

We have sometimes read, with mingled amusement 
and vexation, the fourth rate stories of fourth rate 
papers and magazines, wherein the heroine who has 
suffered from a reverse of fortune, rising with com- 
mendable courage to meet her disasters and cheer her 
aged father and disconsolate husband, after their f orc^ d 
retirement to a small country place, has immediately 
commenced picking strawberries for breakfast, comhig 
in from the garden with cool and smiling face, be- 
comingly set off by her spotless white muslin adorned 
with blue ribbons. 



WHAT IT IS TO BE WELL DRESSED. 37 

Now white muslin forms the coolest and freshest- 
looking of summer toilets, we all know; and we hope to 
live to see the day when shall be invented a fabric 
equally thin, soft and pure, with the additional advan- 
tages of being impenetrable to dew or rain, and as 
easily cleansed as varnished paint. But until that day 
comes we would advise white muslins to refrain from 
strawberry-beds ; especially when the dew is on the 
vines. 

Of course it is not to be supposed that any one be- 
sides these impossible heroines is ever absurd enough 
thus to attempt the strawberry and muslin feat, but 
other almost equally ridiculous examples of inappropri- 
ateness of dress can be seen any day. White petticoats, 
embroidered or ruffled to the last degree, are often worn 
for a dusty walk along a country road, or through a 
dewy lane in the moonlight, with but one inevitable re- 
sult ; fresh and spotless though they might be at the 
start, crumpled and dirty they must be in the end; 
causing to the wearer, it she be a neat woman, much 
open or concealed vexation of spirit. 

Other examples of inappropriateness of attire are 
sometimes furnished by a woman who pays a visit, car- 
rying with her all her best apparel. The visit is to 
be but short, and both time and place offer small room 
for the display of her wardrobe, but it must be shown. 
Consequently the poor victim to her own vanity changes 
her costume twice or thrice a day until all have been 
exhibited, fatiguing herself, and disgusting her friends, 
for no end but to make herself ridiculous to bystanders. 
Such a woman would wear a ball-dress at a funeral 
rather than not have it seen, Admired, even she, one 
would suppose, would know it could not be under ou- 



38 HINTS ON DRESS. 

cumstances so inappropriate ; for certainly a woman is 
never well-dressed when clad in out-of-place garments, 
no matter how beautiful they are in themselves, nor how 
becoming they may be to the face and figure of the 
wearer. 



CHAPTER III. 

THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 

Every woman should so arrange that her wardrobe 
may contain articles suitable for all the common 
uses of her life. For incidental uses she may in gene- 
ral safely trust to the inspiration and the resources of 
the moment. What novels are to literature, what 
champagne is to daily food and drink, are occasional 
dresses to a woman's wardrobe. Of course if the whole 
life is of the novel and champagne order, the occasions 
requiring special and elegant dresses will be many, and 
should be provided for. But to the class of mental, 
moral and physical dyspeptics, who crave no diet save 
the light, brilliant, stimulating, and substanceless, we 
do not propose to address ourselves. It is only those 
whose lives have a meaning, who will profit by any 
suggestions we may have to make. Those women 
whose elevated aims in life, and devotion to objects of 
their love and duty, save them from the degradation of 
a slavery to vanity and ostentation, yet who, from 
the very refinement of nature and nobleness of mind 
which has given them their high purposes, and spirit 
of devotion to others, would desire always to wear the 
tasteful and the fitting. 

Of course in this little chapter one cannot expect to 



40 HINTS ON DRESS. 

mention nearly all of the articles that many would 
think indispensable — for these vary with each individual 
— but we do not intend to include any that could pos- 
sibly be considered superfluities, and would head our 
list with underclothes. 

As the fashion of these is not material, one should 
always keep on hand a supply of plainly and neatly 
made and trimmed undergarments, that will prove suf- 
ficient for any emergency of accident or illness. All fine 
and expensive needlework on such articles will be 
shunned by women who regard both neatness and 
economy, for besides that these embroideries are costly 
luxuries in the first place, they are very quickly soiled 
and torn, and require frequent renewal. And they are 
no less expensive if wrought by the wearer's own 
hands ; but rather more so, for they consume much 
time that might be better spent. The little leisure that 
occupied women have for fancy work, may be more 
profitably applied to making articles which will be less 
trying to the eyesight, and when completed will afford 
more general pleasure. 

Of morning-dresses or business-suits there should 
always be a good, though not a very large supply. No 
half- worn finery can, or ought to take the place of these. 
Every woman needs business dresses just as much as 
her husband, father, or brother need their business 
coats. And as a woman's employments usually vary 
more than a man's, she requires a greater number oi 
the suits, which should vary to fit her temporary occu- 
pation. Thus, the " house-mothers," or daughters, who 
have frequently to assume some of the duties of house- 
maid, or of cook, should keep constantly in readiness 
dresses suitable for the performance of those duties. 



THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 41 

The pretty calico, or delicate muslin morning dress, in 
which a lady would preside at the summer breakfast 
table ; or the alpaca, or French flannel wrapper, which 
look so comfortable on a winter's morning, might 
present anything but an attractive appearance after 
having been worn while cooking the breakfast. It is 
true one may, by aid of good luck, a big apron, and 
rolled-up sleeves, escape soiling the dress ; but the 
bottom of a spider that has just been lifted from the 
fire is apt to be black, and if, in moving it about, it 
comes in contact with the gown, the condition of the 
latter is not improved. Besides, tired hands are not 
always steady in their motions, and a coffee-pot may 
tip, or a gravy-boat may incline from a safe level with 
results disastrous. So it is safer, if one is occasionally 
obliged to play cook, to have two or three cooking- 
dresses. These should be of dark, and closely-figured 
calico — not, as the oft-quoted " old-woman " said of the 
delft-tea-set, that it may " not show dirt " but that iron 
rust, fatal to all light calicoes, — coming from no one 
knows where, — or equally fatal fruit stains — unremov- 
able save by acids quite likely to remove bits of the 
fabric at the same time, — may not render it old and 
soiled-looking on the first day of its use. In fashion 
these cooking or housemaid dresses should be as simple 
as possible ; flounces, tucks, folds or mines are all 
equally unendurable. 

The usual morning dress admits of some ornamenta- 
tion, but excess should be guarded against ; much 
trimming is not "in keeping," either on the gown, or the 
apron, which old-fashioned dress-protector will never 
be despised by neat women ; "on the contrary they will 



42 HINTS ON DRESS. 

always endeavor to be fully supplied with an abundance 
of them. 

Every lady who lives in the country is, or should be, 
something of a gardener. For this employment she 
will need a special costume, and nothing is so com- 
fortable and convenient as a dress of light woolen 
material, made with full trousers, loose waist, and skirt 
reaching a little below the knee, like the costumes worn 
in classes for calisthenics. The same style of dress 
is most appropriate for berrying expeditions and moun- 
tain-climbing, and for boating and fishing excursions. 

But home duties and enjoyments do not form the 
sum of life's employments for all women, and in the 
lives of many they are supplanted by occupations more 
nearly resembling those of their fathers and brothers. 
"Women thus situated will need regular business suits. 
These should be of strong, serviceable material, quiet 
in color and but slightly trimmed. Shabby finery — al- 
ways detestable — is never more so than on the person 
of a self-supporting woman. But we do not necessarily 
mean that a dress of fine material may not be so re- 
modelled as to be suitable for a business dress. If of 
dark color, neatly kept, and all expensive or "fussy" trim- 
mings removed, a gown that has served its time as a " best 
dress," may be very becoming and suitable for daily use ; 
or light colored all-wool materials may be dyed for 
this purpose. What we object to, is that when a dinner 
or an evening dress has become passee, its owner should 
don it " about house," or in her school-room, her office, 
her studio, or her shop, without fitting it for its new 
use. For, besides that the long skirt will speedily get 
frayed and soiled, and the flounces and ruchings, once 
so pretty, must soon share the same fate, and that the 



THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 43 

finery is now as out of date, as in its new surroundings 
it is out of taste, it is a very wasteful way. The dress 
re-made would last twice as long, and the trimmings, if 
of real lace, or handsome passementerie, or fringe, or 
velvet, might serve for another nice dress instead of being 
worn out in a service for which they are not adapted. 

An old black silk, neatly remodelled, forms, perhaps, 
the most useful of all business dresses daring cool 
weather. Next best are dark-colored silks, then the 
ever ready, long-suffering, black alpaca ; or, for very 
cold weather, a dress of dark, fine English flannel or 
waterproof. For business use, in weather too warm for 
silks, we can recommend colored cambrics or linens, 
but only such as are so plainly made and trimmed 
that any Bridget can wash and iron them ; for no one 
can enjoy wearing a dress that will show the slightest 
spot or stain, when it cannot be made up without call- 
ing into requisition the services of a French laundress 
and incurring an expense of nearly one-third its first 
cost 

In addition to business suits, one always needs one 
or two dresses that will answer for calls, for church, 
and for small evening gatherings. 

We know we are shocking the notions of many 
when we say but one or two of these, for is it not con- 
sidered essential that one shall never, or at least rarely, 
appear twice in the same dress, upon even the most in- 
formal occasions ? This may be. There are a great 
many foolish fancies in our world, and surely this is 
not least among them. But we are glad to know that 
there is a very large class who recognize that they 
are of more consequence than their dress, and that 
if the latter is in good taste, not too far past the style, 



u 



HINTS ON DRESS. 



and in good preservation, it will bear being viewed 
many times in different or the same places. 

Among indispensable things we must of course num- 
ber an abundant supply of collars, and cuffs, or under- 
sleeves, of styles suitable to be worn with the various 
costumes. In general a set of these should not cost 
more than the price of one yard of the material of 
the dress with which it is intended to be worn, though 
there are exceptions where the dress-fabric, though 
not expensive, is so fine in texture that it will not be 
put out of countenance even by costly lace. 

Of pocket handkerchiefs one will need many of the 
commoner sorts, a few fine, and one or two for " dress 
occasions. " 

Of well-chosen neck- ties, sashes, and head-dresses, or 
ribbons, but a small number will be needed at one 
time, and Fashion, which changes so incessantly in 
all things, is especially fickle in these small arti- 
cles. 

Of hats or bonnets, one suitable to wear with the 
" best dress," and another 'to accompany the business 
suits, are all that are essential for each season of six 
months. Neither of these should be of more than one 
quarter the cost of the material of the gown with which 
each will be most worn, and very frequently need not 
reach an eighth, but this will depend much upon the 
taste and ingenuity of the maker. 

A good supply of gloves is also requisite, but it 
is not essential that they should all be of French kid. 
Gloves are frequently a disproportionate item of expense 
with those who think no cheaper glove than kid will 
answer the purpose, even when engaged in ordinary 
business pursuits, as these are very easily soiled. It 



THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 45 

should be remembered that the only essential point 
— for any excepting dress occasions — is, that the hands 
be protected from soil, or sun, by neat-fitting and well- 
kept gloves, whether of Lisle thread, silk, dog-skin, or 
kid. 

The same thing is true of shoes and boots. "While it 
is necessary that they be whole, and of good color and 
fit, it is not important that they be of the latest 
fashion or most costly material. 

In addition to the white skirts which are included 
under the head of underclothes, a thick and dark- 
colored skirt will be essential for winter use, and one 
of lighter material and shade for summer wear ; unless 
one desires to employ a special laundress, and even 
then not be able to present an example of perfect 
neatness. 

Among things that may be considered indispensable, 
we may include two warm and serviceable winter 
cloaks — one suitable to wear when calling, attending 
concerts, lectures, etc., and the other intended to be 
worn with the business dresses. Then there is the 
ugly, but never-to-be-despised waterproof, for wet- 
weather walks, and a soft, warm, shawl or wrap, for the 
sunny, but cool, days of spring or fall. In addition to 
these, it is desirable to possess a lace shawl for day- 
time wear in summer, and indoor evening use in win- 
ter. 

In the matter of travelling dresses, we cannot do 
better than to quote the hints given by Miss Trafton, 
in her "American Girl Abroad," in regard to an outfit 
for the voyage across the Atlantic, and subsequent trip 
through Europe. The advice is equally applicable to 
long or short trips in our own country. None but in- 



46 HINTS ON DKESS. 

experienced travellers are ever seen in the perfectly 
fresh dresses made purposely for the trip, which is 
to them a grand event, demanding special and exten- 
sive preparations. And no woman of taste will ever 
appear in cars, or in stage, on steamer or steamboat, or 
at wayside inn, clad in the laces and velvets appropri- 
ate only for the drawing-room or the concert-hall. 

Miss Trafton says, "It is as well to start with but 
one dress besides the one you wear on the steamer. 
These two dresses may be anything you chance to 
have ; a black' alpaca, or half-worn black silk is very 
serviceable. When you reach Paris," (or any large 
town on the route you take, whether in this country or 
in Europe,) circumstances and the season will govern 
your purchases ; and this same silk or alpaca dress 
will be almost a necessity for constant railway journeys, 
rainy-day sight-seeing, etc. A little care and brushing, 
fresh linen, and a pretty neck-tie will make it present- 
able — if -not more — at any hotel dinner-table." .... 
" Take as many wraps as you please, and then you will 
wish you had one more. A large shawl, or, better still, 
a carriage robe, is indispensable. In your valise you 
will have — in addition to two entire changes of under- 
clothes — warm flannels, thick gloves or mittens, as 
pretty a hood as you choose " — for steamer use or night 
travel — "a pair of comfortable slippers, quantities 
of merino stockings, and a double gown or woolen 
wrapper in which you may sleep," whether on an ocean 
steamer, or on dry mountain heights, where blankets 
are not apt to be as plenty as the supply of fresh air is 
abundant. An umbrella, rubbers, and small work-box, 
containing needles, thread, scissors, etc., etc., complete 
this list of travelling essentials. 



THINGS INDISPENSABLE. 47 

The woolen wrapper spoken of above will not only- 
fee found useful when travelling ; it is an essential part 
of every woman's wardrobe, for all are called at times to 
fill the chair of the convalescent, or that of the wearied 
night-watcher, and in both cases there is nothing so 
comfortable, though in very warm weather a calico 
"double gown " may take its place. 



CHAPTER IV. 



HINTS ABOUT COLOR AND FORM. 



If we could imagine a world where was light, but no 
color, how dreary and desolate would it appear to us ! 
A world in mourning. 

Yet there are persons, with good eyesight, so desti- 
tute of what phrenologists call the organ of color, that 
they are afflicted with " color-blindness." This is not 
always entire (its victims being sometimes able to dis- 
tinguish yellow and blue), but so nearly so that they 
lose all the beautiful effects of color, both in nature and 
in art. To them there is no variation in the tints of a 
landscape, save the degrees of light and shade ; and 
their ideas of the becoming and tasteful in dress are 
limited to form and fashion. 

To this blindness — much more general than is com- 
monly supposed — are probably due many of the taste- 
less combinations in dress which constantly offend the 
eyes of those sensitive to color ; while others are 
owing to a lack of education in this particular, or to 
carelessness. 

" The eye," for form and proportion has, in general, 
received more cultivation, the daily exigencies of life 
calling more imperatively for its exercise ; but often it 
is only applied to the merely useful, leaving the beau- 
tiful out of view. 



COLOR AND FORM. 49 

Of course there are higher uses for the faculties 
called Color and Form, than that of dress, if this is con- 
sidered simply as a matter of vanity. But this it should 
never be. A love of the beautiful, for its own sake, will 
require us to pay attention to it, in costume, as in other 
things ; though it will not demand that we study dress 
as a fine art. That would make of it a pursuit too en- 
grossing for a life so short, and so full of earnestness 
and purpose as ours should be. 

In regard to color and form, we can offer only hints, 
but such as we hope will assist those who desire to 
dress becomingly, without devoting to the subject time 
and thought which should be directed elsewhere. 

Every child is taught that " there are but three primi- 
tive colors — red, blue, and yellow ; that compounded in 
various proportions, either in twos, or all three together, 
these three colors produce every hue in nature, and in 
art ; every tint that is physically possible. First, when 
combined in twos, they produce the three secondary 
colors — that is to say, blue and red make purple or 
violet ; yellow and red, orange ; blue and yellow, green. 
The greys and browns, again, are compounds of all 
three of the primary colors, in unequal and varying 
proportions. 

" Complementary colors are the colors or color which, 
with any color or colors mentioned, make up the three 
primary colors, which constitute white light. Thus, if 
the given color be a primitive, its complementary is 
composed of the other two primitive colors ; e. g., the 
complementary of blue is orange, compounded of red 
and yellow. Again, if the given color be a secondary, 
its complementary is the remaining primitive color. 



50 HINTS ON DEESS. 

Thus, the complementary of green — compounded of 
blue and yellow — is red. 

" Contrast of color is either simple or compound. 
Each of the primitive colors forms a simple contrast to 
the other two. Thus, blue forms a simple contrast to 
red and yellow. But if red and yellow be mixed to- 
gether, the complementary color will be produced ; viz., 
orange, which is the most powerful contrast that can be 
made to blue." 

Bat this slight, and merely verbal knowledge of the 
first principles of color, will not help us to attain har- 
mony, or proper contrasts in dress, unless the eye be 
cultivated by observation of the effects produced by 
certain combinations of color, both in nature and in 
art. Thus, orange and blue, though in such decided 
and beautiful contrast in their proper place, would form 
a sufficiently grotesque looking head-dress for maid or 
matron, blonde or brunette ; while red and yellow, so 
effective in upholstery — at least those shades which 
have received the more euphonious names of crimson 
and gold — are, in combination, abandoned in dress to 
the British army, to the Indian and the African. 

It is universally understood that the same tints can- 
not be worn by brunettes and blondes, but it is popu- 
larly supposed that there are certain complexions " so 
perfect that they can wear any color. " This, like most 
popular notions, has a measure of truth in it ; that is, 
there are some complexions so clear, and so nicely 
balanced between the extremes, that they can wear 
certain shades of the more decided colors appropriate 
for the dark or the fair, but they can wear the positive 
colors of neither. For instance, while maize-color is 
very becoming to a clear, gipsy -like complexion, a deli- 



COLOR AND FORM. 51 

cate buff is the nearest approach to it which should be 
adopted by the beauty who is neither dark nor fair; and 
while she may wear a bright and decided blue, she 
should not venture upon the pale shades of that color, 
so charming for her golden- haired sister. 

The colors of the dress should always harmonize with 
the complexion, as this harmonizes with eyes and hair. 
An artist would not paint the warm hues of an Italian 
sky above a frowning scene of desolate glacier or ice- 
berg, nor hang the dull clouds of a December evening 
over the vivid verdure of the tropics ; so, in the lesser 
art of dress, the tone of person and attire should not be 
at variance. Who can imagine Cleopatra arrayed in 
the cool tints in which Hypatia looked so grandly 
beautiful ? Or where would have been the pure charm 
of the hitter's presence if she had decked herself in the 
glowing hues of Cleopatra's wardrobe ? 

The vivid, warm brunette, must wear colors like her- 
self. Cool neutrality should be as foreign to her dress 
as it is to her person and character. To her nearly all 
of the dark, but bright shades, of red, yellow, and blue, 
are suitable ; so are warm browns, and white — if 
" picked out " with some one of the bright colors she 
affects ; and black, if not worn in solid mass as in deep 
mourning, but relieved with abundance of white, or 
with bright colors, is also becoming. 

As years increase upon the brunette she will be 
forced to retire mainly to the warm shades of brown, 
and to black and white, for with age she loses her vivid- 
ness of coloring ; and the bright hues which enhanced 
her charms in youth, may now increase the appearance 
of sallowness. But let her never adopt the cold tints 



52 HINTS ON DUES* 

at any period of her life. In youth they are incon- 
gruous, in age they are ghastly. 

For the pure blonde, with golden hair, blue eyes and 
fairest skin, there is a more limited choice of color, and 
a wider of tints. That is, of the primitive colors, blue 
— and that must not be dark — is the only one she can 
wear ; but the endless delicate shades of purple, green, 
lilac, lavender, drab, and grey, afford her a wide range. 
She may also indulge in very delicate (not faded) 
pink, but let her beware lest it have any suspi- 
cion of redness ; just as she must be careful lest the 
green she chooses should have no perceptible tinge of 
yellow. 

But even the shades of these colors which she can 
wear in youth must be abandoned in age. Blue can 
be retained longer, but after fifty it is safest to trust only 
to the cool neutral tints affected by the " Friends," and 
to the ever unobjectionable black and white. 

In speaking of what brunettes and blondes may wear, 
we have had reference to those whose complexions are 
good of their kind ; but there are many who, from ill 
health, or untimely exposures in uncongenial climates, 
have acquired complexions that range through all the 
gradations of sallowness and pimpledness from the 
simply not good, to the positively bad. 

While such persons can wear in general the same 
colors that they would affect if their complexions were 
perfect of their kind, the shades should be much 
softened in tone. The bright scarlet becoming to the 
brunette, through whose clear cheeks a healthy color 
comes and goes, must — when years or illness have altered 
the complexion — be changed to a softer and less distinct 
shade; and maize-color must be abandoned altogether. 



COLOR AND FORM. 53 

And so, the blonde whose cheeks have lost their first 
loveliness of hue, must wear her blues and pinks of milder 
tints than she would once have preferred. While those 
who have badly " pimpled " skins, whether dark or light, 
should never wear solid colors very near the face. The 
flowers in their bonnets should be small and mixed, the 
ribbons should be shaded, and the dresses of fine striped 
checks, or plaids, or small mixed figures. These, by 
giving a slightly broken appearance to the whole cos- 
tume, and avoiding the bad effect of a strong contrast 
between the mottled condition of the skin and a plain 
body of color in the dress, will always soften the defect, 
and sometimes render it almost invisible. 

But as a means of making the already beautiful seem 
more so, and rendering the ugly less so, there is 
nothing — after a good selection of colors — that will 
equal the effect of soft, fine lace, worn about face, neck, 
and hands. This may be " real lace," worth more than 
its weight in gold ; or it may be simple " illusion," light 
as vanity, and as cheap. Its properties are the same. 
Black laces do not possess them in as great a degree as 
the white, but a mixture of the two is sometimes very 
desirable, especially in the case of brunettes whose hair 
has begun to silver. 

Black and white, we are often told, can be worn by 
any one. This is true ; yet there are degrees of be- 
comingness eveu here. We have yet to see the person 
to whom thick, dead black, unrelieved by a glimpse of 
white about throat and wrists, is becoming. Yet we 
often hear it remarked, and probably with truth, that 
"Mrs. So-and-so looks better in her deep mourning 
than she was ever known to do before." In such in- 
stances we are almost sure to find that Mrs. So-and-so 



54 HINTS ON DRESS. 

is a woman of poor taste, one of the sort who will 
wear orange and yellow, or bine and pnrple, or scarlet 
and crimson together, or all six at once, and admire the 
effect. Of course in such a case even the dead 
black is an improvement. Semi-transparent black, re- 
lieved with white lace about throat and wrists, and en- 
livened by a becoming bow at the throat, is always in 
good taste. 

So are thin, white muslins, or any semi-transparent 
white material, whether with or without the addition of 
touches of color. But opaque white materials as 
pique, alpaca, or silk, are trying to all complexions. 
None but the clearest, whether brunettes or blondes, 
should attempt to wear them. 

It is a common error that persons with very pale 
complexions should wear pink, or some one of the many 
shades of red, to impart color. The real effect is quite 
the reverse ; the different shades cast corresponding 
shades of yellow, and from simple pallor the com- 
plexion is changed to a decidedly sallow hue. Yellow 
should also be avoided by those whose cheeks are des- 
titute of natural roses, as it casts a blue reflection, and 
gives to the face it surrounds, a ghastly look. Blue, 
on the contrary, casts a pink light, and in some one of 
its many dark shades for brunettes, and light shades 
for blondes, is the prettiest of the jorimitive, as green 
is of the secondary colors, for pale and clear com- 
plexions. 

From this it must not be inferred that pink is a suit- 
able color for those with unnaturally red faces. The 
yellow reflection it casts is not strong enough to mate- 
rially affect them, and the contrast of pink and fiery 
red is anything but agreeable to the eye. 



COLOR AND FORM. 55 

It should be fully understood that at all ages, and 
with any complexion, many colors at one time are to be 
avoided. As a rule, two colors are enough for one cos- 
tume, though several shades of the same color are ad- 
missible, if they are properly blended together. Thus, 
a pale blue head-ribbon, worn with a dark blue neck- 
tie, would be in bad taste ; while combined in each, the 
shades might be so blended that the effect would be 
pleasing. 

The trimmings of a dress should be either of the 
same shade as itself, or a little darker, or of black. 
Black trimmed with white, or with some color, is the 
sole exception to this rule, and even in this case the 
effect is too striking to please for any length of time. 
Contrasted trimmings, like appropriate shades of blue, 
or rose color, upon a delicate shade of drab or grey, 
are often effective, but should not be adopted for any but 
house dresses. 

In trimming a dress with a darker shade of its own 
color, care ehould be taken that the difference of tint be 
not too marked. In browns and greys the difference 
may be more decided, but with blues, greens, etc., great 
care should be exercised. In these the shades of the 
trimming and of the dress should never be more than 
two degrees, and it is better if they are but one degree 
apart. When a dress of one of the primary or second- 
ary colors is thus shaded in the trimming, the bows for 
hair and neck should exactly match the several shades 
of the dress, or be of black or white lace. 

If the dress is one of the neutral tints — those formed 
by a mixture of all three of the primitives — the ribbons 
may be of any prettily contrasting tint that is brighter 
than the dress. Thus, blue or pink forms a pretty con- 



56 HINTS ON DRESS. 

trast for drab or grey ; but the blue or the pink must 
be bright and clear : the first must not be purplish, nor 
the second reddish. 

In selecting the two shades, or colors, for a costume, 
care should be taken that the larger portion be of 
the quieter tint. Thus, a dress of dark blue is relieved 
by a neck-tie of delicate pink ; but a pink dress would 
be ruined by pinning a blue bow at the throat. Or, a 
dress of violet color — almost the only dark hue becom- 
ing to a blonde — would be enlivened by a throat knot of 
the creamy tint we find in the " Souvenir de Malmaison " 
rose ; but a gown of the latter shade worn with violet 
bows would disfigure Venus herself. 

It should be borne in mind that a color should never 
be worn simply because it is pretty in itself. One is 
often tempted in these days of " lovely new shades " — 
to buy without reference to becomingness. It is so dif- 
ficult to imagine that the mauve so pretty in the shop, 
may give to the dark or thick complexioned wearer, the 
unenticing hue of a thunder-cloud ; or, that the " new 
shade of pink " requires to be worn only near a fresh, 
young face. 

In saying that, as a rule, more than two colors in one 
costume were to be avoided, we did not mean that the 
flowers in a bonnet, hat, or head-dress must be of one 
of these colors, though they should be such as will con- 
trast pleasantly. Neither did we mean that each cos- 
tume should have its own set of jewelry ; though it 
would be in bad taste to wear corals with a pink dress, 
or turquoise ornaments on one of dark blue, or of 
purple. But with the exceptions of flowers or jewelry, 
all the minor accessories of dress — such as gloves, 
parasol and fan — if not of black or white, should be of 



COLOR AND FORM. 57 

one of the two colors that form the costume. If this is 
not practicable, these articles should be of that neutral 
tint that agrees best with the whole. 

Gaily colored wraps are sometimes very effective if 
worn over black or white, or one of the neutral tints, 
but should rarely be ventured over a dress of one of 
the primary or secondary colors : a failure in such a 
case would be too glaring. 

In regard to form, Fashion — proverbially careless of 
the beautiful — has so much of her own fitful way, that 
it seems like a Partingtonian attempt at staying the 
waves of the sea, to say a word in defence of Nature's 
models. Yet useless as it appears w r e will venture a few 
hints about the ways in which we may best approach 
those models without offence to Nature's sensitive rival. 

A very tall woman should avoid high heels, high hats, 
striped dresses, and closely confined hair. If slender 
she may indulge in as much flouncing, and puffing, and 
ruching, as Fashion requires, or her own sense of what 
is fitting will permit. In the street she may wear 
ample shawls — heavy or light, as she chooses — or if her 
figure is well made she may wear the tight-fitting 
basque or polonaise, always providing it is cut as long 
and as full-skirted as the style will admit ; but she w T ill 
never wear a short sacque. 

A very stout woman, even though tall, will eschew all 
trimming excepting lace or ribbons, or material that may 
be laid on plain, or in flat plaits, or gathered with but 
little fullness : she will never w T ear the close fitting 
basque or polonaise and will always — when her occupa- 
tions will permit — whether in-doors or out, wear some 
kind of light and soft, but opaque, shawl or wrap. In 
fact a half fitting basque .or sacque, or a light drapery, 



58 HINTS ON DEESS. 

is essential to any woman who is disproportionately- 
fleshy, whether she be tall or short ; though in the lat- 
ter case the folds of the mantle should not be too ample. 

Persons of this style of figure are frequently too con- 
scious of the defect, and, thinking to render it less pro- 
minent, will wear only clothes of the tightest fit. But 
the contrary should be their course ; for though any- 
thing airy and fluttering would be out of taste, the 
simple drapery of a shawl or wrap, or best of all, the 
half fitting sacque, by shading the outlines, and prevent- 
ing observers from discerning the exact contour, will im- 
part grace to a figure that might otherwise seem awk- 
ward and unwieldy. 

White, or very light colors, should never be worn by 
women who are too fleshy, they so greatly increase 
the apparent size : nor should very narrow stripes, for 
these, while they increase the effect of height, also add 
to that of breadth. Large plaids are inadmissible, 
though small checks and plaids are sometimes becom- 
ing. Bright colors, even if dark, should be avoided as 
too noticeable ; and so should heavy thick materials, as 
those which require a good deal of starch. Black, or 
nearly black, grenadines, alpacas, cashmeres, and soft 
lustreless silks, are the most becoming dress goods for 
these figures. Hoops — when in fashion — should be 
worn no larger than is necessary to fully hide the out- 
lines of the form ; and paniers should never be worn by 
very stout women, whatever the fashion may be. They 
should also avoid all puffings and flouncings, excepting 
on the lower part of the dress skirt, being especially shy 
of them about the hips. 

Women who are both short and slight, can best wear 
close fitting garments, and a good deal of trimming if 



COLOR AND FOEM. 59 

not of a heavy kind. In fact nothing about them 
should be heavy : from the bonnet to the shoe, all 
should be light in texture and in fashion, and frequently 
in color. And, whatever the prevailing style may be, 
their garments should never be too large, giving 
the impression that they are wearing clothes not made 
for them. Little women can rarely carry to advan- 
tage any shawl heavier than one of lace, and should 
also forever abjure big bows, big sashes, big flowers, 
big hoops, big paniers, and more hair than belongs to 
them by right of nature. 

The woman who is tall and slender, may have a 
stately elegance of figure, or be angular and stiff ; one 
who is tall and fleshy may have a commanding presence, 
or be ponderously awkward ; and one who is short and 
stout may move herself with a genial, motherly grace, 
or with an unwieldy waddle ; while one who is short 
and slight, may have a twitching, overloaded air, or a 
light, graceful motion ; each result depending very 
much upon the style of dress, and the amount of com- 
fort it secures to the wearer. Discomfort is the death 
of ease under all circumstances ; and ease of manner 
and carriage is the first essential to grace. 

In regard to a gradual change in the colors, we must 
wear as age creeps over us, we have already spoken ; 
but perhaps it will -not be amiss to repeat the remark of 
" Kitty Trevylan's " sprightly cousin : 

" When you are forty-five, for pity's sake recognize 
the fact I" 

Not by a neglect of dress, a hopeless and careless 
settling down into a slovenly old age ; nor by a sombre 
dullness of coloring, and a severe destitution of trim- 
ming, but by adopting that pleasantest of all tones — 



60 HINTS ON DRESS. 

after the first, bright morning hours of life have passed 
- — a subdued cheerfulness, which is best produced by 
black and white, and by warm browns, and cool greys, 
and drabs. To these we all must, or should, come at 
last ; though by reason of a remarkable freshness of 
complexion, some are able to postpone the day longer 
than most. 

As a rule the dress material we use should increase in 
richness as it decreases in brightness, and the costume 
becomes more simple in fashion. A woman who has 
passed the boundary line of the fifties, sacrifices her 
dignity, without gaining in grace or elegance, by con- 
forming to every passing whim of " the mode" and a 
dress of rich Lyon's silk, made and trimmed simply, is 
in better taste, though in a style antedating the pre- 
sent by several years, than would be one of poorer 
fabric, cut, and fussed into the last agony of the day. 

Lace is beautiful and becoming at all ages, but it is 
essential to the dress of every woman over forty years 
of age who desires to dress becomingly. Falls or 
ruches of fine lace do so much to soften and shade 
roughnesses of complexion, and harshness of outline. 

Of course no woman who respects herself, and has 
any appreciation of the beautiful and fitting, will dye 
her hair. It is far better that snowy locks should crown 
a young and fair face, than that one where " bloat " 
and pimples, or wrinkles and sallowness, contend for 
the mastery, should be rendered painfully grotesque by 
the harsh contrast with stiffened puffs or bands of shiny 
brown, or jetty black hair. In fact, grey hair is a won- 
derful softener of the defective complexions which 
often accompany age, and should be cherished, rather 
than shunned. 



COLOR AND FORM. 61 

From the days of Homer to those of Longfellow, hair 
has been considered by all persons of taste as the " glory 
of a woman," her " crown of beauty." But Fashion — 
tasteless goddess of caprice — has meddled and marred 
more with this than with any other one thing. Is it 
not about time that each should begin to study what 
style of hair-dressing is most becoming to her face, and 
to adopt it ? Declaring that she will not be Japanesed 
unless that style chances to suit her features, and that 
she will not wear three or four pounds more of hair 
than nature intended any one woman to possess. 

"Why should the hair of blonde and brunette, the tall 
and the short, the stout and the thin, the sharp-faced 
and the thin-faced, the regular featured and the snub- 
nosed, the old and the young, the beautiful and the 
ugly, be drawn tightly back, or raised over cushions, or 
puffed into wings, or tied in bags, or hung in braids, or 
wound in coils, or tormented into corkscrew curls, or 
crirnped, or laid preternaturally smooth with " bando- 
lines " and pomades, or allowed to swing like a horse's 
mane, or be bound like a wet towel about the head ; or 
built into a pyramid, or rounded into a cannon ball, 
all as by one impulse ? What business has Fashion to 
meddle with the hair ? And why should a woman with 
a spark of individuality — to say nothing of taste — sub- 
mit for one moment to Fashion's senseless and arbitrary 
decrees, in a matter upon which depends so much of 
the pleasure she can give to the eyes of others ? 

We do not " pause for a reply" — not expecting any — 
but pause in indignation at the cowardice that has so 
long permitted woman to be shorn of one of her chief 
beauties. 

Lucky is it for us that Fashion can't meddle much with 



62 HINTS ON DRESS. 

our eyes! If she could, she would have had them 
turned inside out, or set in the middle of the forehead, 
or the sides of the nose, long ago. 



CHAPTER V. 



ESTIMATES OF COST. 



Why will not women keep accounts ? 

Not once, nor twice, but more than one hundred times 
have we asked this question, since we began to collect 
from our friends, and the friends of our friends, the 
material for this chapter. We had supposed that it 
would be, comparatively, an easy matter to gather such 
material, for we did not propose to extend our inquiries 
into the regions where Fashion and Profusion reign, 
and we imagined that women to whom life presented 
more important objects, would, at least, be sufficiently 
methodical and business-like to keep a record of their 
personal expenditures. But, no, whatever may be the 
cause, we find that a woman who keeps a daily record 
of her expenses is a phenomenon, even among self-sup- 
porting women, who we should suppose would natu- 
rally feel the utility, even the necessity, of the prac- 
tice. 

It has, therefore, been with difficulty that we have 
obtained the following varied tables of the yearly cost 
of the dress of ladies moving in those select but com- 
paratively quiet circles, where mind, morals, and man- 
ners are considered of higher value than mere monied 
wealth. 



64: HINTS ON DKESS. 

These tables represent very effective results, and serve 
to prove our repeated assertions that a lady's wardrobe 
need not entail the extravagant outlay too often ima- 
gined essential, in order to enable its owner to be tho- 
roughly well-dressed. 

We commence our tables of annual expense with the 
one smallest in amount, which is given by a middle- 
aged married lady occupying a business position in New 
York city. It presents only the average annual cost of 
her dress — $100 — without entering upon details which 
would have been desirable. This amount does not in- 
clude the cost of making any portion of the wardrobe. 

Our first detailed table is that of a self-supporting 
young unmarried lady, residing six months of the year 
in a large city, who is her own milliner, dress-maker, 
and plain sempstress. 

Dress material $44.50 

" trimming and linings 13.85 

Shoes 9.75 

Gloves 6.25 

Millinery 12.81 

Lingerie 10.00 

Hosiery and flannels 13.00 

Cuffs, collars and handkerchiefs 7. 32 

Neck-ties, etc 6.00 

Sundries 7.00 

Total for one year $130.48 

The second table is that of a young unmarried lady, 
residing during most of the year in a quiet, country 
place. This does not include cost of making any por- 
tion of the wardrobe. 

Dress material $61.40 

" trimmings and linings 17.40 



ESTIMATES OF COST. 65 

Shoes 15.25 

Gloves 9.30 

Millinery 10.00 

Lingerie 8.00 

Hosiery and flannels 12 .00 

Cuffs, collars and handkercliiefs 3.00 

Neck-ties, etc 4.00 

Sundries 10.00 

Total for one year . $150.35 

The third table is that of a young lady living in the 
country nine months of the year, passing three months 
in the city. This includes but a small portion of the 
cost of dress making, and we find no mention of hosiery 
or flannels. 

Dress material $76.42 

" trimming 27.79 

" making..., 5.00 

Millinery 15.75 

Shoes 14.50 

Lingerie 8.00 

Gloves 10.00 

Sundries 28.00 

Total for one year $185.46 

The fourth table, which covers two years, is furnished 
by a young married lady with children, residing in the 
country, a very short distance out of New York city. 

Dress material, trimming and making $212.00 

Lingerie 22.00 

Corsets and covers 6. 00 

Hosiery and flannels 10.00 

Balmoral skirts , « 15.00 

Shoes , 25.00 

Gloves 20.00 



6Q HINTS ON DKESS. 

Collars, cuffs and hankerckiefs 10.00 

Millinery 40.00 

Sundries 15.00 

Total for two years $375.00 

Our fifth table is that of a young unmarried lady, 
living in a large city, and doing most of her own 
sewing. 

Dress material $64.10 

" making 13.50 

" trimming 14.00 

Shoes 28.00 

Millinery 22.00 

Lingerie and hosiery 40. 00 

Gloves — nine pairs 18.00 

Sundries 10.00 

Total for one year $209.60 

The sixth table we are able to furnish is that of a 
young lady occupying an editorial position on a pro- 
minent weekly, and living ten months of the year in 
New York city. It includes cost of making. 

Dress material, trimming and making $105. 00 

Lingerie „ 20.00 

Hosiery and flannel 16.00 

Balmoral skirts 7.00 

Corsets, hoops, etc 13.00 

Shoes 20.00 

Gloves 12.00 

Collars, cuffs and handkerchiefs 8.00 

Ribbons, neck-ties, etc. 6.00 

Millinery . . 20.00 

Sundries 10.00 

Total for one year $237.00 

The seventh table is given us by a young unmarried 



ESTIMATES OF COST. 67 

lady residing in a large city, and holding a business 
position. 

Dress material, making and trimming $140.00 

Shoes 40.00 

Millinery 15.00 

Lingerie and hosiery 20.00 

Ribbons, etc 10.00 

Collars, cuffs and handkerchiefs 10.00 

Gloves 20.00 

Total for one year $255.00 

Our eighth table of expenditure is that of a married 
lady, with children, keeping house in the city eight 
months in the year, living on a fixed income. 

Dress material, including cloaks, etc $106.35 

" trimming 56.00 

" making 34.00 

Millinery , 32.22 

Shoes 13.00 

Lingerie 15.50 

Gloves 8.00 

Sundries 47.00 

Expense for average year $312.07 

The ninth table is furnished by a young mar- 
ried lady, with a small, independent income, living 
in a large city. As this lady does much of her own 
sewing, but little of the cost of making is included be- 
low. 

Dress material $162.60 

" trimming 30.50 

" making 18.00 

Shoes 24.00 

Millinery 36.00 

Lingerie » 20.00 

Gloves 13.50 



68 HINTS ON DRESS. 

Collars, cuffs and handkerchiefs 8.00 

Balmoral 5.00 

Sundries 18.00 



Total for one year $335.60 

The tenth estimate is that of a married lady with 
children, keeping house for nine months of the year in 
a large city. 

Dress material $170.00 

" making 87.00 

" trimming 99.00 

Millinery 20.00 

Shoes 12.00 

Lingerie 9.00 

Gloves 12.00 

Sundries 20.00 

Total for one year $129.00 

The eleventh statement is that of a young married 
lady, keeping house in a large city, and not obliged to 
consider very closely the question of economy. 

Dress material, trimming and making $295.00 

Shoes 40.00 

Millinery 20.00 

Lingerie 20.00 

Kibbons, etc 20.00 

Collars, cuffs and handkerchiefs 20.00 

Gloves 40.00 

Total for one year $455.00 

Our twelfth and highest estimate is furnished by a 
married lady, without children, living in apartments in 
the city during eight months of the year. 

Dress material $126.00 

" trimming 107.00 

" making 141.00 



69 



ESTIMATES OF COST. 

Shoes 24.00 

Millinery 24.00 

Lingerie 20.00 

Gloves 7.35 

Sundries 30.00 

Total for one year . $479.35 

It will be observed 'that in but one of the foregoing es- 
timates is any mention made of cloaks or shawls. This 
is partly because the fashion of wearing suits has been 
so prevalent of late, and thus the sacques, etc., are in- 
cluded under the head of dresses ; and in part because 
as cloaks, and shawls are expected to do duty for years, 
it would not be right to estimate them under the ordi- 
nary annual expenses. 

In a few of the estimates the cost of the dresses seems 
very small, for any one occupying a good position in 
society, but it should be rememered that many wo- 
men, by reason of neatness and care, can make a dress 
last for a great while. With such a woman dresses are 
apt to accumulate, and she finds it inadvisable to add 
many gowns to her wardrobe, while she has on hand 
those which, with a little remodelling, will answer all 
the ends of dress. 

What may be a reasonable amount of money to de- 
vote to dress, of course depends upon the amount of 
one's income, and a woman with a salary of $1,000 per 
year, from which to pay all expenses, should not desire 
to vie with one who has $5,000, though the former will 
be obliged to apply a larger proportion of her slender 
funds to the purpose than the one who is better en- 
dowed with worldly goods ; for — however much we 
may desire it — it is impossible to dress respectably 
upon the sum popularly known as " little or nothing." 



70 HINTS ON DRESS. 

It is perhaps safe to say that the cost of the clothes we 
wear should never exceed that of our board, and by 
dint of neatness, and of careful re-makings, the amount 
may be a good deal less without compelling the wearer 
to appear in shabby or tasteless attire. 

The wife or daughter of a small farmer, of a trades- 
man, or of a small salaried clerk, or of a clergyman, 
would consider as an unjustifiable extravagance the 
same sum that her self-supporting sister, with a salary 
of $1,500 for her sole use, would think allowable ; and 
rightly so, for in the first case, plain but pretty calicoes 
and muslins, merinos and alpacas, would prove suf- 
ficiently handsome dress materials, and the lady herself 
may very probably be able to make them up neatly. Be- 
sides, the number and price of " little things " need not 
be as great as in the case of a salaried woman, whose 
daily duties throw her into competition with others. 
We have known women whose plain, but neat and 
tasteful dressing, quite fine enough for the position they 
filled, did not cost them more than $75.00 per year. 

Upward on the scale of costliness, we can proceed to 
an almost limitless height. The number and expense 
of articles of dress which " must be had," enlarging in 
exact proportion as a woman's mind and heart grow 
smaller and more selfish. 

Much observation and a good deal of inquiry, have 
convinced us that with all the great outcry against the 
extravagance of women in matters of dress, there are 
comparatively few who do not willingly conform their 
desires to the limits of their husband's purses, when 
they once know what those limits are. Still, there are 
some who, though really unable, are anxious to vie with 
Mrs. So-and-so, and in order to supply deficiency of 



ESTIMATES OF COST. 71 

money, they become wasteful, almost wickedly wasteful, 
of their time and strength, in cutting, making, altering, 
and " fussing " old dresses to make them look like new. 
By this labor $250 may be made to go as far as, and 
produce as good a result as $500, but the saving thus 
effected may entail a loss of double its amount by ruin- 
ing, or at least seriously injuring, a woman's mental or 
physical health ; and it would be well if in estimating 
the ,cost of such and such a dress, or wardrobe, the 
sum of side-ache, head-ache, and back-ache, which ac- 
companied and succeeded its preparation, and the 
amount of the physician's bills, and the loss to her 
family of the care and time which the mother or daugh- 
ter should have devoted to it, were reckoned in. For 
there is in these things, besides the actual suffering, an 
outlay of money which makes an equal, if not greater, 
drain on the family purse than would the $500 laid out 
on the dress in the first place. 

But quite often we find that it is not the fault of the 
wife or daughter that a disproportionate amount of the 
income of husband or father is expended upon her 
dress. The masculine half of humanity is not so su- 
perior to the allurements of vanity as it would have us 
believe, and as the improved taste of the age has declared 
that men of sense shall not indulge in gay attire, they 
often seek to gratify their innate love of show by 
urging their wives or daughters to extravagant outlays. 
For instance, we know a hard-working clerk who re- 
ceives a salary of $2,000 per year, who has had his life 
insured as a provision for his wife in case of his de- 
cease, boards in small quarters in the fourth story of 
a fine looking house, spends but a moderate amount on 
his own dress, and devotes every cent he can spare 



72 HINTS ON DRESS. 

from these expenses to his wife's dress. His wife 
meanwhile getting all the discredit due for extrava- 
gance, of which the poor thing would gladly be guilt- 
less. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 



From the heading of this chapter it must not be 
imagined that in telling how to buy, we mean to give 
any instructions in regard to the art of making " won- 
derful bargains." In fact, we have no faith in that sort 
of thing. It is true that sometimes accidents may 
throw good bargains in one's way, but the hunter for 
them is, the course of years, almost sure to pay for 
damaged, shop worn, or ill-made articles, more money 
than it would have cost to purchase those of best qual- 
ity from reliable dealers. 

Our ideas of how to buy may be comprised in a few 
simple sentences. 

First, never buy in haste. "When we rush into a store 
to buy " some sort " of a dress, or cloak, or shawl, to 
meet a present emergency, without having previously ex- 
amined the different styles of goods, and fully consid- 
ered which will be the best suited to the purpose, we 
often make purchases which we have reason to regret. 
The goods which look so pretty when a novelty on the 
counter, may be very tiresome and inappropriate when 
looked at day after day in the simple surroundings of 
home. Or, the quality which seemed good when we 
did not compare it with others, may prove to be poor. 
Or, though the articles we have bought may be both 



74 HINTS ON DRESS. 

pretty and of good quality, they may not suit our pur- 
poses as well as some other might have done that we 
did not see until after our purchase was made. In 
short, when we " buy in haste " we may often " repent at 
our leisure." 

But this does not imply that we are to sit four or five 
hours before a counter, making the clerks pull down 
quantities of goods for which we have no use, before we 
can make our decision, On the contrary, we should 
have determined, before we enter a store, whether we 
wish a dress of silk or of grenadine, of cashmere or of 
calico, and then asking only for that variety of goods, 
proceed to make the wisest selection in our power, with 
as little trouble as possible to the clerks. 

A second point is not to be persuaded into making pur- 
chases contrary to our own opinions. We each know our 
own circumstances better than others can do, and 
though the advice of merchant, clerk, or friend, may be 
perfectly disinterested, and should not be slightingly 
regarded, it cannot be implicitly followed. For instance, 
the salesman may be right when he assures us that an 
article costing five dollars per yard is handsomer and 
more durable than one of the same sort at three dollars; 
but we may know that the latter sum is the highest we 
can afford to pay, and that for the purpose we have in 
view the goods at that price will be as valuable as the 
more expensive quality. 

A third point is, that use, rather than show, should 
ever be considered. Thus, in selecting a black silk, 
while we may admire for its weight, sofcnesr:, and beau- 
tiful finish a very high-priced " Bonnet,''' suitable only 
for house and carriage wear, we should not be tempted 
to buy it in place of a " Ponson " of less urice and 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 75 

slightly less attractive appearance, which will be hand- 
some enough for our indoor uses, and more durable as 
a walking suit. 

What we shall buy, is a question involving much 
more detail. 

In a general way we can say that it is always more 
economical to purchase material, good of its kind, no 
matter how plain or how cheap that kind maybe. If we 
cannot afford a good cashmere at $3.50 to $4.00 per 
yard, we would do better to purchase some other mate- 
rial, such as all-wool twilled serge, at 75 cents per yard, 
which, if not quite as wide, nor as rich looking when 
new, will cut to nearly as good advantage, and will 
wear much better than a second or third rate cash- 
mere. 

Having determined upon the kind of goods we wish 
to buy, whether silk or serge, cloth or cambric, our 
next move is to decide which variety of these will be 
best for our uses. 

To assist in this decision we have been at much pains 
to obtain accurate information in regard to the prices, 
and the best qualities of different sorts of dry goods. 
Of course it would be impossible, even if it were desir- 
able, to give anything like a complete priced-list of the 
different dress goods, for each season brings with it 
novelties to be tested. But there are some articles 
which have stood the test of time, and it is such only 
that a woman of moderate means should purchase ; she 
cannot afford experiments. 

For all seasons and occasions no style of goods has 
been such a universal favorite as the time-honored 
black silk. No lady feels that her wardrobe is complete 
without at least one of these dresses, and yet, as 



76 HINTS ON DEESS. 

scarcely anything is more disappointing than a poor ar- 
ticle of this kind, the art of selecting the silk becomes 
a desirable accomplishment. 

The most elegant black silk, for house or carriage 
wear, is the " Antwerp, " from one yard to forty inches 
wide. But as it is the richest, it is naturally the most 
costly, and varies in price from $9.50 to $12.50 per 
yard. Its increased width over that of other gros- 
grain silks is not in proportion to the access of cost, 
neither does it wear enough better to pay for the dif- 
ference in price, and only those who can afford extrava- 
gance should indulge in this style of silk. 

Bonnet's silks — rank as next finest in quality. 
These are twenty inches wide, and vary in price 
according to weight and "finish," from $2.75 to 
$8.00 per yard. The lower priced are too light for 
much service, while the higher, though beautifully 
finished, are so heavy and closely woven that they are 
liable to break, and on account of a tendency to hold 
dust, should never be used for walking dresses. For 
the latter purpose the medium qualities, lettered G, H, 
I, and J, ranging from $450 to $5.50 per yard, are the 
best of the Bonnet silks. But for ail purposes where 
both a handsome and a useful dress is desired, the 
Ponson silks are the best of all the gros-grains. They 
are twenty-four inches wide and range in price from 
$2.25 to $5.50 per yard. The best grades for service 
being those at $3.50 to $4.50 per yard. 

The American black silks, manufactured by the 
Cheney Bros., twenty-four inches wide, and varying 
in price from $2.00 to $2.75, are very serviceable — much 
more so than those at the same price from the French 
looms, but they lack the latter's fine finish. 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 77 

For summer wear, taffetas, or high lustre silks, take 
precedence of gros-grains, as, though equally strong, 
they are lighter and more easily kept free from dust. 
The best of these are " the Tiellard " which range from 
$2.75 to $5.50 per yard, those at $3.00 and $3.50 being 
as serviceable as the higher priced. Next to these 
rank the Ponson taffetas, of which there are but two 
grades, at $2.00 and $2.50 per yard. There are also 
" half-lustre Ponson's," a useful quality which mingles 
some of the characteristics of both gros-grains and 
taffetas, and is sold at $3.00 per yard. All the above 
are twenty-two inches wide. 

Plain-colored silks, twenty-four inches wide, range in 
price from $2.50 to $6.00 per yard, but, as in the case 
of the ' black silks, the highest price is not always the 
best for use ; the quality sold at $3.00 being recommen- 
ded as the most serviceable. But it should be remem- 
bered that a " new shade " will bring from twenty-five 
to fifty cents per yard more than established colors in 
the same grade of silk. 

"Lyons taffetas," better known as " summer silks," 
woven in checks, stripes, and chenes, eighteen inches 
wide, are all of one grade, but range in price from $1.00 
to $1.90 per yard, according to the fashionableness of 
the style. For instance, the hair-stripe, that a year ago 
brought $1.75 per yard is now sold for $1.25 ; and the 
chene that to-day brings $1.90, in a year or two may 
probably be offered at from $1.00 to $1.25. 

Pongee-silks, only found in light shades, are twenty- 
seven inches in width, and are sold at $1.00 per yard, 
for a quality that wrinkles easily, to $1.50 and $2.00 for 
a better quality, that can be washed like a French calico. 
But this is not a very high recommendation for silks of 



78 HINTS ON DRESS. 

any sort, for though they can be restored to cleanliness, 
they can never regain their first gloss. 

Foulard silks, twenty-seven inches wide, soft, and 
comparatively durable, are sold at $1.50 per yard. These 
silks are also recommended as washable, but though 
not ruined, they are not improved by the process, and 
they spot so very easily that the light colors are sure to 
need some renovating process after having been worn 
even a short time. 

Japanese silks — made of silk and linen — range in 
price from seventy-five cents per yard for a quality 
which looks well at first, but soon becomes crumpled 
and shabby-looking, to $1.75, for a grade which is said 
to do excellent service. They are only eighteen inches 
wide. 

Undressed silks, which come in all colors, and are 
durable, can be recommended for evening wear. This 
sort is twenty-two inches wide, and varies in price from 
$1.00 to $2.00 per yard. 

Pirn's Irish poplins, resembling gros-grain silk, but 
softer, twenty-four inches wide, are $2.25 for the 
best quality. Colored Irish poplins are prettier than 
black, though the latter bears a strong resemblance to 
American black silks. The Lyons, or French poplin, 
twenty inches wide, sold at $1.25 per yard, is liable to 
shrink if exposed to wet, and is very easily crumpled. 
It may readily be distinguished from the Irish poplins 
by the latter fact. 

In black and plain colored dress goods for autumn, 
winter, and spring use, we have a range of prices, fi om 
fifty cents per yard for the soft hanging and compara- 
tively serviceable all-wool delaine, to $4.50 per yard, 
for the finest cashmere, forty-seven inches in width, or 



HOW AXD WHAT TO BUY. 79 

$4.00 for the heavy, but soft and durable, " ladies'-cloth," 
sixty-four inches wide. 

Within this range we find, among the light and cheap 
goods which have been tested, challies, twenty-four 
inches wide, which wear well, and are pretty, but crease 
easily, at seventy-five cents per yard. Twilled-pongees, 
of about the same width, which wear as well, and do 
not crease, at eighty-five cents per yard. A silk and 
wool serge, thirty inches wide, which wears well, but 
only comes in light shades, at from $1.50 to $1.85 per 
3 ard. Pongee poplins, twenty-seven inches wide, which 
are very durable, but are only found in a few shades, 
which, in the plain goods, are mixed to produce a 
changeable effect, as steel-grey and purple, grey and 
brown, etc., at $1.15 per yard. Another quality of this 
goods, which looks as well, and is offered at sixty-five 
cents per \ard, crumples so as to become almost useless 
if worn out of doors in damp weather. Cretonne- 
cloths, of the same width as all-wool delaines, and 
much like it, but heavier, and found only in light colors, 
are sold at seventy-five cents per yard. All wool serge, 
twenty-seven inches wide, found only in dark colors, 
brings about the same price. 

Merinos — about one yard wide — vary through all 
colors and degrees of fineness, from ninety cents to 
$2.00 per yard. Some of the coarser grades will be 
found as durable as the finer, if not quite as pretty. 

Of cashmeres, forty inches wide, those costing $4.50 
per yard are better worth buying — if we can afford 
one at all — than the lower grades which come at all 
prices, from $1.25 per yard upwards. The qualities 
sold at §2.50 to $3.00 will last as long as the fashion in 
which they are at first made, and for persons who do 



80 HINTS ON DEESS. 

not care to have dresses " made over," this will be suf- 
ficient. But the best quality of all-wool-satine, found 
in all dark colors, twenty-eight inches wide, which has 
a fine glossy appearance, and will answer all useful 
purposes nearly as well as the finest cashmere, is much 
cheaper, the highest price being $1.75 per yard. A sort 
called French-satin e, offered at $1.15 per yard, comes 
only in brown and grey, one side being grey, the other 
brown ; this is not very pretty, and becomes rough 
after being worn a little. 

Parisian cloth, twenty-seven inches wide, is a very 
durable and nice-looking article, especially adapted for 
walking suits, found in black and all dark colors, which 
varies in price from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per yard. 
The difference in price is caused by difference in quality 
rather than in looks. 

Biarritz-cloth is one of the very prettiest of the win- 
ter dress goods ; warm, soft, and light, found in all the 
dark colors, and has the important additional recom- 
mendation of durability. The width — forty inches — is 
one that usually cuts to advantage ; price $1.50 per 
yard for best quality. 

All-wool reps, which comes in all the dark shades, is 
a soft and handsome style of goods, thirty-two inches 
wide, varying in price from 75 cents to $1.75 per yard; 
the latter grade is said to " wear well." 

Silk-faced velours is a heavy and not particularly 
beautiful article, with a linen back, and, as the name 
implies, a silk face. It is said to be durable, but is 
probably less so than most of the varieties we have 
named. In price it ranges from $1.50 to $2.00 per 
yard, and is twenty-eight inches wide. 

All-wool velours, found in black and all the dark 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 81 

colors, is one of the best cheap winter goods we have, 
being twenty-seven inches wide and very durable for its 
price, which is only fifty cents per yard. 

Empress cloths are so well known that they need no 
recommendation. They are found in black, and all the 
dark colors, varying in width from twenty-eight to forty 
inches, and correspondingly in price from sixty cents to 
$1.25 per yard. 

Three sorts of serge, called the imperial, the plain 
twisted, and the all-wool, thirty inches wide, form strong 
and useful winter and fall dresses, in all dark colors, 
varying in price from seventy-five to ninety-five cents 
per yard ; but they soon become rough, though other- 
wise durable. 

Of heavy cloths, adapted for suits, there are three 
varieties found in black and in colors. 

First, the tricot, one yard and a half wide, and sold at 
from $2.00 to $2.50 per yard, that at $2.25 being as dur- 
able as that at $2.50, but not quite as nicely finished. 
Tricots are only found in black and a few of the more 
sober colors. 

Second, the ladies' cloths, which are handsomer and 
more expensive than the tricots, but do not wear any 
better. They are found in black, in all shades of brown 
and grey, in a bright scarlet, and in a few dark shades 
of green, maroon, blue and purple. The two last are 
very pretty, but apt to fade. The width is the same in 
all — one and a half yard — but the price varies accord- 
ing to weight, fineness and color, from $1.75 to $4.00 
per yard ; those at the former price differing but 
slightly, if at all, from the finer sorts of colored flan- 
nels. The bright colors are twenty-five cents per yard 
more than the more sobei\ hues. 



82 HINTS ON DEESS. 

The third sort of cloth of which suits are sometimes 
made, is waterproof. This — same width of above — it 
of both English and American manufacture, and varies 
in price from $1.25 per yard, for that which is chiefly 
cotton and does not pay for the making up, to the best 
English all-wool at $3.50 per yard. A serviceable grade 
is found at $2.50. None of these cloths make suitable 
dresses for any but the coldest weather. 

Of the heavy dress materials which come only in 
black, we find, first, bombazine, one yard wide, of both 
French and English manufacture, the latter being as 
much better than the former as it is more costly. They 
vary in price from $1.75 to $3.50 per yard. Second, 
Henrietta-cloth, or silk-warp cashmere, a very beautiful 
style of goods, forty inches in width, from $1. 50 to $2.50 
per yard — the latter grade being proportionately more 
serviceable than the former. Third, drap-d'ete, most 
worn for light sacques, but handsome and very service- 
able for suits, forty-eight inches wide and varying in 
price from $2.25 to $400 per yard. That at about $3.00 
is a durable. quality, but not as fine and handsome as 
the higher priced. Fourth, barathea, formerly known 
as Turin cloth. This is a nice-looking style of goods 
with wool face and cotton back. The genuine is re- 
commended for its durability, but there are several 
sorts, all to the uninitiated eye looking much alike, 
but some not being worth the trouble of making up. 
They are from fifty to seventy-five cents per yard, and 
are thirty-eight inches wide. Fifth, is a crepe-cloth, 
often used for dresses, but more suitable for light 
sacques, and for trimming in deep mourning on dresses 
subject to such severe use that English crape would 
soon become too shabby. It varies, according to 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 83 

quality, from forty to seventy-five cents per yard, and 
is thirty-two inches wide. 

We now come to the most universally serviceable of 
all the woolen materials — the alpacas. Not too fine for 
every-day business wear, yet always nice looking, easily 
kept clean, and, if of good quality, exceedingly durable. 
The best of all the alpacas are the brillantines or Ara- 
bian lustre. These range at from 75 cents to $1.50 per 
yard, but as is the case in some other styles of goods, 
that at the highest price is not the most serviceable, for 
what it gains in fineness and gloss it loses in strength. 
The grades sold at from $1.00 to $1.25 will be found 
most durable. Next in value to the brillantines, come the 
demi-lustre alpacas, at from sixty-five cents to $1.25 per 
yard ; and last and least the mohair lustre at from 
sixty-five to eighty-five cents per yard. All alpacas are 
about thirty inches wide. 

Black English crape for veils comes in two widths, 
one yard and a quarter, and one yard ; and of several 
qualities, from that sold at $1.50 per yard to that at 
$8.50 ; those at $6.00 and $7.00 being equally service- 
able if not quite as heavy as those above these prices. 
Trimming crapes of the same qualities are found in 
narrower widths, and vary from $3.00 to $G.OO per yard. 
Those at $4.50 and $5.00 being sufficiently good for all 
useful purposes. 

In striped woolen dress goods, alike on both sides, we 
have the pretty and serviceable, all-wool Pongee-poplins, 
twenty-seven inches wide, at $1.15 and $1.35 per yard. 
Yak-cloths of the same width, which are durable, but 
only found in greys and browns, or with black and 
white stripes, at sixty cents per yard. Of lighter mate- 
rials we have wash-poplin; an excellent wool and cotton 



84 HINTS ON DRESS. 

stuff, twenty-seven inches wide, at thirty-eight cents 
per yard, and cram, a new material, said to be durable, 
of the same width as above, at thirty cents per yard. 

Of striped worsted goods, not alike on both sides, we 
find classed as durable, a pongee-poplin, twenty-eight 
inches wide, at $1.25 per yard ; a pongee-serge — which 
comes only in grey and black, and grey and brown — 
same width as above, at $1.50 per yard, and a washable 
mohair, twenty-two inches wide, at twenty-eight cents 
per yard. 

Of Plaids, now mostly used for children, there are 
plain and crepe gloss poplins, thirty-two inches wide, at 
sixty cents per yard ; a mohair plaid — black and white 
— thirty-two inches wide, and fifty cents per yard, which 
washes well ; an all-wool serge, in bright colors, one and 
a half yards wide, at $1.50 per yard ; and a grenadine 
poplin, twenty-two inches wide, which comes only in 
light colors, but it will answer for one seasons' wear, 
and is only fifteen and eighteen cents per yard. It 
will not bear washing. 

For morning wrappers we find gaily figured all-wool 
cashmeres, one yard wide, at $1.25 per yard, and robes 
of the same material sold in patterns of fifteen yards 
each, forty inches wide, at from $12.00 to $25.00 ; 
those at the first price are not considered durable. 

For summer wrappers, chambretta, a sort of figured 
barege, one yard wide, comes at forty-five cents per yard. 
For very cold weather, there are plaid and plain flan- 
nels, varying in width from twenty-seven to fifty-four 
inches, and in price from seventy-five cents to $1.75 per 
yard. Flannels of the Assobet, Lawrence, and Camden 
mills are considered the best. 

For daily or exceptional use in late spring and early 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 85 

autumn, and on cool days in summer, from their dura- 
bility, beauty, and universal adaptability, black grena- 
dines have achieved a high and permanent position 
among dress goods. There are different sorts of gre- 
nadines, some of which, found both in plain black, and 
striped with colors, are flimsy mixtures of silk, wool and 
cotton, or silk and cotton, and are not worth the mo- 
derate price they cost — from twenty-five cents to $1.00 
per yard — to say nothing of the trouble of making, for 
they " muss " and fade very easily, scarcely lasting half a 
season even with careful treatment. The varieties 
which have obtained most favor have been the iron — 
all-wool, twenty-four inches wide $2.00 per yard, or the 
same, two yards wide at $6.00 per yard ; and the sewing 
silk, twenty- two inches wide, at $2.50 per yard. This 
last is almost imperishable, and is always pretty. A 
flowered black silk grenadine is used for polonaises and 
over-dresses, with very much the effect of beautiful 
black lace. This is very strong, is twenty-two inches 
wide, and varies in price from $2.75 to $3.50 per yard. 
Another sort — also durable — is of the same width, has 
round satin spots of various sizes, and costs from $2.25 
to $2.50 per yard. A grenadine-barege — silk and wool 
— twenty-two inches wide, which is finer and less 
durable than the iron, though quite serviceable, is sold at 
$1. 00 per yard. A coarse sort of cotton and wool, which 
does not tear easily, though it fades soon, twenty-two 
inches wide, is sold as low as sixty-five cents per yard. 

Nearly all the varieties of plain colored goods we have 
mentioned are found in plain white as well. 

In muslins, organdies, white and colored, and Swiss, 
with or without white or colored embroidered figures, 
maintain their old position. The fine French organ- 



86 HINTS ON DRESS. 

dies, sixty-eight inches wide, at $1.75 per yard, being 
considered the very best " laundry goods," among the 
semi-transparent varieties. Swiss muslin varies in 
price from that thirty-two inches wide, sold for linings 
at eighteen cents per yard, to the finest, forty-two 
inches in width, costing $1.00 per yard. 

French nansooks are of two kinds, both forty- 
eight inches in width, the "heavy," sold at from fifty 
cents to $1.30 per yard, and the "sheer" — a beautiful 
sort — at from fifty cents to $1.18 per yard. Eng- 
lish nansook, thirty-nine inches wide, varies in pro- 
portion to its fineness, from thirty- two cents to $1.10, 
and English mull — not so popular now as formerly— 
thirty-four inches wide, at from thirty to seventy-five 
cents per yard. 

Victoria-lawn — the sort most used for suits — forty- 
two inches wide, varies from eighteen to eighty cents 
per yard, that at forty cents being a very serviceable 
quality. A new sort of muslin called French-grenadine, 
which washes well, and is very pretty for polonaises 
and evening dresses, is forty-four inches wide, and 
costs from forty-five to ninety cents per yard. 

The well-known piques, useful for many purposes, 
but heavy to wear, and the terror of laundresses, are 
thirty- four inches wide, and vary in price from twenty 
cents per yard for the poorer quality of plain rib or 
spot, to $1.75 per yard for the ribbed canton flannel- 
backed pique, with an embroidered sprig, nice for the 
winter dresses of the wee-toddlers whoni their doting 
mammas dislike to see in anything but white. 

Oriental check is a very nice white material for morn- 
ing dresses, which does not lose the pretty satin gloss of 
its checks or stripes by constant washing, is thirty-inches 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUT. 87 

wide, and costs from twenty-seven to forty-eight cents 
per yard. 

Tucked white muslins, for children's dresses, or for 
trimming, are of two kinds, those in which the tucks are 
stitched, and those in which they are woven. The 
latter look quite as well, are more durable and cost less, 
ranging from ninety-five cents to $1.50 per yard, while 
the stitched are sold at from $1.25 to $2.00 per yard. 
French revere, woven in alternate stripes of very nar- 
row tucks, and open work like satin stitch, is pretty for 
yokes and trimmings ; it is about thirty inches wide, 
and sold at from $1.75 to $2.00 per yard. 

Among the calicoes, the French, at forty to fifty cents' 
per yard, and the English, twenty-seven inches wide, at 
twenty and twenty-five cents per yard, are called the 
best ; though American cambrics, thirty-two inches 
wide, at from twenty to twenty-five cents per yard, are 
very good and usually prettier than the others. English 
cretonne is a thick and good variety of this style of 
goods, twenty-seven inches in width, at twenty-five cents 
per yard. French batiste is a very pretty ^ soft-finished 
cambric, thirty-two inches wide, at thirty-five cents per 
yard. Chamberies, pretty and washable, but not dur- 
able, are about twenty-seven inches wide, and are sold 
at from ten to eighteen cents per yard. 

Scotch ginghams, though not very pretty, and some- 
times apt to fade, form perhaps the most serviceable of 
dresses for ladies when engaged in household occupa- 
tions, or for children allowed to play, as children should, 
in the fields, or on the sands, where white, or the prettier 
and more delicate cambrics, would soon be ruined. These 
are from twenty-seven to thirty-six inches wide, and cost 
froni thirty to thirty-five cents per yard. Cotton satine 



88 HINTS ON DRESS. 

is a remarkably pretty style of cotton goods, in plain 
colors, with — as the name implies — a satin finish on one 
side, which is not lost by washing. This costs from 
thirty to forty-five cents per yard, and is thirty-two 
inches wide. 

Striped and checked percales are one yard wide, sold 
at from twenty-five to forty-five cents per yard ; these 
are pretty and good, but not as serviceable as some 
other varieties of similar price. Striped linens, which 
are both pretty and strong, are thirty-two inches wide, 
and sold at from sixty-five cents to $1. 00 per yard. They 
are not, however, very economical fabrics to buy, for 
they are as easily spoiled by fruit stains and bad wash- 
ing, as cambrics at but half their price. 

From calico to velvet seems an abrupt transition, yet 
before descending to the underwear, we wish to speak 
of cloakings, and naturally give the first place to the 
most elegant, expensive, durable, and always fashionable 
of the materials. Perhaps, after a low grade of black 
silk, nothing is more unsatisfactory than a poor quality 
of velvet ; for any sort is too costly for one of moderate 
means to afford, unless it will wear long enough to com- 
pensate for the first outlay. This the cheap varieties 
will not do. It is more economical to pay $14.00 per 
yard for an article that will look well for years, than 
$11.00 for one that will look brown or threadbare after 
a season or two. 

The most costly style of black cloaking velvet is that 
known as the " Peerless," which comes in two widths, 
that of thirty-two inches, which is sold at $20.00 
per yard ; and that of twenty-eight inches, at $16.00 per 
yard. The former does not cut to sufficiently better 
advantage to pay for the difference in price. The 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 



89 



quality of velvet most highly recommended for service 
is the Ponson, thirty-two inches wide, $16.00 per yard ; 
and twenty-eight inches wide, costing, in black, $11. 00 
per yard, and colors, $16.00. The next grade of velvet 
is the "Colard," that thirty-two inches wide being 
$16.00 per yard, and that twenty-eight inches broad 
$13.00 per yard. The "Pelissier," the lightest of the 
all-silk velvets, comes only of one width — twenty-eight 
inches — and costs $11.00 per yard. 

German velvets, twenty-eight inches wide, with cot- 
ton-back, bring from $5.00 to $10.00 per yard. These 
are never handsome, and soon become worthless. 

Velveteen, heavy and undesirable, though often ser- 
viceable, ranges from twenty-two to twenty- eight inches 
in width, and in cost from seventy-five cents to $2.50 
per yard. 

Whether or not one owns a velvet cloak, one must 
have a cloak of a material which will be suitable on occa- 
sions when velvet would be out of place. For this pur- 
pose there are many fancy cloths, but plain, handsome 
beaver cloth is more durable, both in fashion and 
fabric. This ranges in price from $5.00 to $6.50, the 
latter quality being as superior to the others in dur- 
ability as in finish. 

Seal-skin and Astrakan cloaks are handsome, but are 
so warm that it is almost dangerous to change to one 
of light cloth or velvet, though they become uncomfort- 
able on many of the mild days which even our winters 
sometimes bring. These fur cloaks are also very liable 
to destruction by moths. Cloaks of the genuine seal- 
skin, and Astrakan furs, cost from $60.00 to $125.00 
each, though they are sometimes offered as low as $20.00 
the sacque to uninstructed eyes as good as those at 



90 HINTS ON DRESS. 

high prices. But on strict inquiry, or examination, it 
will be found that the skin was not properly cured at 
first, and is now infested by a very small insect, which 
commits its ravages on the skin side, where — sheltered 
by the lining — it may almost honey-comb the skin be- 
fore the presence of the little foe is suspected ; but 
when once it has secured a habitation it is scarcely to 
be dislodged, and after a little while it will be found 
that the gentlest pull is sufficient to tear the fur into 
jagged strips. 

A serviceable material for children's sacques in mode- 
rate weather is a white corduroy, which will wash well, 
at $1.50 per yard, twenty-seven inches wide. 

A durable and nice-looking stuff for the linings of 
cloth cloaks is called farmer's satin, thirty-two inches 
wide, sold at from eighty -five cents to $1.75 per yard. 
The medium quality — $1,25 per yard — is thought to be 
as durable, if not as nicely finished, as the higher priced. 
For velvets, taffeta, eighteen inches wide, at $1.25 per 
yard, is the most suitable lining. 

Bonnet velvets, eighteen inches wide, cost from $4.50 
to $5.50 per yard, the price depending more upon the 
tint than the quality. 

Furs vary so much with fashion that it is impossible 
to give reliable information about the prices. The 
finer sorts of mink look nearly as well as sables, are 
very much less in price, and will do as much service. 
Siberian squirrel fur is the cheapest of all the real 
furs, and for ordinary use answers an excellent purpose. 
Ermine should only be worn in pleasant weather in 
company with silks and velvets. 

In gloves we have not yet been presented with any- 
thing better than the Alexandre kids, but they are such 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 91 

a costly luxury that those with whom economy is an 
object are often forced to resort to less expensive, and 
less perfectly fitting gloves of the same materiel, or of 
silk. Alexandre kids, with but a single button, are sold 
at from $1.65 to $1.75 per pair ; with two buttons, at 
$2.00, and so on to $3. 50 per pair. The systeme Jouvin 
gloves, are a cheaper sort of kid, of which those with 
two buttons are sold at $1.00 per pair, but they rarely 
fit well, and are often of a poor quality of kid. Gloves 
of English calf-skin, made like kids, which they closely 
resemble in appearance, are sold at from $1.75 to $2.50 
the pair, one of which will outlast three pairs of kids. 
For cold weather these gloves are much better than 
kid, but it is necessary to get the former one number 
larger than the latter, as they do not stretch. One style 
of calf-skin glove is made with gauntlets, for driving. 
Dog-skin gloves are another serviceable sort, sold at 
about the same rates as the calf-skin. In buying dog- 
skin gloves it is well to get a number smaller than when 
choosing those of kid, as they stretch a good deal. 

Alexandre silk gloves, nice and serviceable, are sold 
at $1.25 per pair. English Lisle thread at ninety cents 
per pair. Lace mitts are from seventy-five cents to 
$1.00 per pah*. Fashion, in remanding these for very 
warm weather, has (for once) done a sensible thing. 
The grades sold at from $1.00 to $1.50 per pair, are 
more serviceable than those of higher price, though 
not so pretty. 

Buckskin driving gloves are sold at from $1.25 to 
$2.00 the pair. 

There are cheaper sorts of gloves than any we have 
mentioned, but they are scarcely worth the trouble of 
buying, and rarely look even tolerably well. 



92 HINTS ON DRESS. 

Laces take an important place in the wardrobe of 
every woman who desires to dress elegantly. The 
genuine sorts — those worked by hand — are very ex- 
pensive, but in the end they are often as cheap as the 
trimmings which are originally less costly, for they are 
so durable, both in fashion and in fabric. Many of the 
woven imitations closely resemble the real laces at first, 
but after a little wear become shabby, faded, and flimsy- 
looking. It would be almost impossible to give in- 
structions about how to judge of laces, for it is an art 
which can only be acquired by practice; but a few hints 
in regard to the different varieties may be given, and 
after that the novice must trust to the assistance of some 
experienced friend, and to the honor of the merchant 
with whom she deals. 

Black trimming-laces are of six sorts, the finest and 
most costly of which is the Chantilly-point, varying in 
width from one to eight inches, and in price from $5.00 
to $35.00 per yard. Ghantilly lace is only adapted 
for trimming the very richest of dresses, and shows to 
better advantage on white or colored silks than on 
black. 

The next in point of beauty and expense is the Eng- 
lish thread, sometimes called Brussels-point, though it 
is not as heavy as the lace our grandmothers knew by 
the latter name. This is very durable and pretty, and 
varies in cost from $3.50 to $10.00 per yard, according 
to width and pattern. That about three inches wide, 
costing $4.00 per yard, forms a very handsome 
trimming — as good as any one need desire — for velvet, 
and black, and colored silks, and is a convenient width, 
useful in many other ways as for bonnets, etc. 

Guipure is a heavy and strong lace, suitable for 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 93 

trimming cashmeres, and dresses of similar material, 
but not adapted to the most expensive suits of silk and 
velvet, with which, however, it is frequently used. Gui- 
pure varies in price from thirty cents per yard for that 
one inch in width, to $8.00, for that eight inches 
wide. 

Llama-lace is a strong, fine-wool lace, in pretty pat- 
terns, ranging from forty cents to $5.00 per yard, ac- 
cording to width, and adapted to the same uses as gui- 
pure, though it is not quite as rich-looking. 

Worsted lace is a very heavy sort, adapted to trim- 
ming thick cloth dresses, and sold at from fifty cents to 
$4.00 per yard. This lace also comes in colors, but 
cannot be recommended. 

Spanish lace, though a real, that is, a hand made 
lace, is coarse and ugly, much inferior to the imitations 
of thread which are sold at about the same prices — 
from forty cents to $3.00 per yard. 

At present the most popular of the white laces is the 
well known Valenciennes, varying in price from $1.30 
per yard, for a very coarse pattern, one inch w r ide, to 
$30.00 for a fine sort three and a half inches wide. But 
popular as it is, Valenciennes is not the best lace to 
buy, for besides that it is more readily imitated than the 
other hand-made laces, it is made of cotton instead of 
linen, and is therefore less durable. 

"White English thread laces are cheaper, more durable 
and prettier than the Valenciennes, and are sold at the 
same rates as the black thread laces. 

The Duchesse lace is a most beautiful sort for trim- 
ming the very richest of materials, but is unsuitable 
with any other ; that about five inches wide costing 
$A0.0U per yard. 



94 HINTS ON DEESS. 

Point lace, not quite as showy as the Duchesse, but 
liner, is sold at the same rates ; and point -applique at 
a little less, that three inches wide costing but $21.00 
per yard. But none of these very high-priced laces 
should be purchased by any save the very rich, not only 
on account of their own cost, but because they necessi- 
tate the purchase of correspondingly costly articles of 
every sort from head-dress to shoe. 

Handkerchiefs of Valenciennes lace vary from $1.50 
to $30.00 each ; those at $5.00 and $6.00 being quite 
pretty. Of point lace they range from $6.00 to 
$200.00. 

Valenciennes collars cost from $2.50 to $30.00 ; those 
at $5.00 to $10.00 are very nice. Point lace collars vary 
in fineness with the price, which ranges from $6.00 to 
$60.00 : one at $10.00 is good enough for the " best 
dress collar " of any reasonable woman, and will last a 
life time. 

Lace shawls are found in every degree of fineness 
and beauty, from $1500 to $2500 and $3000 ; those at 
the latter prices being artistic productions which not 
seldom cost the eyes, if not the lives, of their patient 
workers, 

The best qualities of Llama lace are sold at $100, and 
are fine and durable. Chantilly and point- lace jackets 
are sold at from $100 to $1,000 each ; and those of 
Llama lace at from $11.00 to $100, but as these last are 
articles that may speedily pass out of fashion, it would 
scarcely be wise to purchase one of the more costly 
sort, and the lowest grades are too coarse to be de- 
sirable. 

In stepping back to the less beautiful and expensive, 
but more essential, articles, we find Balmoral skirts of 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 95 

different materials are sold from $1.50, for the washable 
black and white printed canton-flannel, to $3.75 for the 
striped wash poplin. 

White skirts, to be worn under thin walking dresses, 
are sold at from ninety cents to $4.00 each for the 
plainly tucked and ruffled, and from $6.00 to $19.00 for 
the embroidered ; while trained white skirts are sold at 
from $5.00 to $30.00. Short white muslin underskirts 
are offered at from $1.00 to $5.00. Drawers at from 
ninety cents to $7.00. Cotton chemises at from $1.75 
to $7.00 each, and linen ones at from $3.75 to $25.00. 
Night dresses at from $2.00 for those plainly but nicely 
made, to $65.00 for those elegantly fashioned, and 
trimmed with real lace. 

Corsets bring from seventy-five cents to $20.00 the 
pair ; the best grades for use being those at from $3.00 
to $5.00. 

The cheaper grades of all the foregoing articles are 
generally quite good enough for sensible people to wear. 

Of fine linens there are two sorts recommended — 
Richardson's, and Stewart's family. The first varies in 
price from forty cents to $1.75 per yard, one yard wide; 
the latter from thirty-five cents to $1.50. Richardson's 
at sixty-five, and Stewart's at eighty-five cents per yard, 
are both good grades for serviceable underwear. 

The best muslins for making white skirts, chemises, 
etc., are Jones' cambrics, from forty-two to forty-five 
inches wide, and thirty to sixty-five cents per yard ; 
and French percales, a very nice article, one yard wide, 
at from thirty to forty cents per yard. 

Berlin cord, an old-fashioned material, is again used 
to make bustles and skirts for those who dislike hoops. 
It is twenty-eight inches wide at forty cents per yard. 



96 HINTS ON DRESS. 

For night-dresses, French percales, mentioned for 
skirts, and India-twilled long-cloth, both plain and 
striped, forty inches in width, are excellent. The latter 
is sold at from twenty-five to sixty-two cents per yard, 
that at forty-eight cents being a nice quality. 

In stockings, as in other things, one may buy plain 
and useful articles at a moderate price, or finer at more 
extravagant rates. We may purchase pretty and 
durable Lisle-thread hose, at from $1.80 to $6.50 per 
pair ; or Balbriggan — strong and good — at from $1.00 
to $4.00 per pair — the first grade being nearly, if not 
quite, as serviceable as the others. Or merinos at 
from $5.40 to $25.00 per dozen ; the best of these for 
common use are sold at from $10.00 to $12.00 per 
dozen. Of cotton stockings the " British four-threads" 
are excellent for ordinary use at $7.50 per dozen. 

Of under-fiannels there are four sorts. The " gauze " 
at from $1.00 to $1.75 each ; the " paper-gossamer," of 
medium thickness, at from $2.25 to $2.50 each ; the 
winter "all wool merinos 5 ' at from $1.75 to $4.25 ; and 
"silk flannels," thin for summer, at $4.75 each, and 
thick for winter, at from $5.75 to $7.00 each. Drawers 
are sold to match each of the above at from $1. 50 to 
$8.00 the pair. Perforated buckskin vests cost from 
$2.00 to $4.00 each, and the drawers are $5.00 per 
pair. 

Ladies' ribbed merino underskirts are sold at $1. 75 
each ; and flannel skirts at from $2.50 to $12.00 each. 

Flannels for ladies' and children's underskirts are of 
many varieties, from the newly introduced and prettily 
embroidered styles, all of one quality of flannel, but 
varying in price according to the pattern of the machine- 
made embroidery, from $1.50 to $4.25 per yard, to the 



HOW AND WHAT TO BUY. 97 

narrow and nearly all cotton sorts sold at forty cents 
per yard. For warm and serviceable underskirts the 
flannel made of cotton and wool, carded, spun and 
woven together, is the most desirable as it will wash 
without shrinking. This is known as the Gilbert flan- 
nel, is one yard wide and sold at from thirty-five to 
ninety cents per yard, according to weight and fineness. 
Shaker-all-wool flannel — one yard wide — sold at from 
seventy-five to ninety-five cents per yard, is very warm 
but prone to shrink. The thickest and best winter 
flannel, when carefully washed, is the Welsh, sold at 
from ninety-five cents to $2.10 per yard : it is thirty 
inches wide, exclusive of the broad band-s of list which 
form the selvedges. Swan-skin flannel, all wool, soft, 
fine and thick, but much disposed to shrink, two and a 
half yards wide, ranges at from $1.10 to $3.00 per yard. 
A nice cotton and wool flannel, thin and light for sum- 
mer use, is sold at fifty-five and sixty-five cents per yard. 
For infants' use there are two desirable sorts, one from 
the Gilbert mills, fine, soft, and will bear frequent 
washing, is one yard wide, and costs from seventy 
cents to $1.25 per yard ; the other, called the " Gilbert 
moleskin," as fine as the first but heavier, at from eighty 
cents to $1. 30 per yard. Gilbert's medicated red flan- 
nel is highly recommended — by those who have worn it 
— as being beneficial in rheumatic complaints. It is 
one yard wide, and sold at from $1.00 to $1.30 per 
yard. 

Canton flannels are of both English and American 
manufacture ; the latter being, we are sorry to confess, 
much the poorer quality. The widths are the same, 
thirty inches and one yard. Bleached English is sold 
at forty-five and fifty cents per yard ; unbleached 



98 HINTS ON DRESS. 

at forty-five cents ; bleached American at twenty-five 
and thirty cents per yard, and unbleached at fifteen 
to twenty-five cents. 

Though not a showy part of the dress, shoes are ex- 
pensive and essential. Those of French kid are the 
handsomest walking shoes in use, and cost from $6. 00 
per pair for the machine-made, to $7.00 for the plainest 
hand-made, and as high as $15.00 for the more fanci- 
fully finished — those at $7.00 being as serviceable as 
the more expensive. Morocco shoes — not quite as 
soft for the feet — are a little stronger than kid, and 
sold at about the same prices. Those of pebble-goat 
are not as fine as either kid or morocco, but are the 
most durable shoes for daily wear, costing $4.50 for the 
machine-made, and $5.00 for the hand-made. Prunella 
shoes vary from $4.00 to $6.00 for machine or hand- 
made, the latter being always considered the most 
durable. Prunella slippers, without heels, are sold at 
from $1.00 to $1.50; morocco slippers, without heels, are 
from $1.50 to $3.00; those at $2.00 being of good qual- 
ity ; morocco slippers, with heels, cost from $2.00 to 
$3.00, for the plainer sort, and $4.00 to $4.50 for the 
much ornamented Marie Antoinette slippers.' 

The foregoing statements of prices are, of course, 
subject to many local variations, as well as to fluctu- 
ations in gold ; which is now — September, 1872 — stand- 
ing at about $1.15, but the information in regard to 
price, quality, and durability has been gained from 
trustworthy sources, and we think will prove reliable 
and valuable. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

TASTE AND ECONOMY. 

We have already explained that in our view the taste- 
fulness of dress does not depend upon the amount of 
money expended ; that attention to the laws of color, 
form, and fitness are the essentials, and that these laws 
can be fully considered where comparatively little money 
is used. But it will not be amiss to say a few words in 
regard to how economy may be consulted in the choice 
of materials, the fashion of making, and the manner of 
wearing. 

In regard to a choice of material, we trust our chap- 
ter on :< How and What to Buy," will give valuable as- 
sistance, especially to those ladies who, having but a 
limited time to devote to shopping, desire to have their 
minds in some degree determined upon what to pur- 
chase before entering a store, where they may be con- 
fused by the novelty and variety of the articles pre- 
sented, and thus induced to buy those which, from in- 
feriority of manufacture, or from unsuitableness to the 
situation and surroundings of the wearer, will prove 
extravagant. 

Goods of startling patterns, or those which are " the 
rage," even though very pretty, are not safe purchases 



100 HINTS ON DRESS. 

for persons with limited purses. The articles are 
marked, and as such, the eye of the wearer and of be- 
holders soon becomes wearied, and the dress, though 
still in good condition, can only be worn under protest, 
or be laid aside for the next beggar. Plain goods are 
never out of date, and narrow perpendicular stripes, 
tiny checks, or " chenes," or small figures, though not al- 
ways fashionable, are rarely out of taste. But the 
" robe," or " pattern dresses," however beautiful when 
in vogue, are outre when not " the rage " of the moment ; 
" bayadere " or diagonal stripes, barely endurable when 
Fashion gives them her sweetest smiles, are positively 
ugly when viewed in the shade of her frown ; and the 
exaggerated flowers twined about miniature towers, or 
decorating the brows of Liliputian Cupids, which excite 
smiles even in their palmiest days, will become grotesque 
to an unendurable degree when Fashion shall have 
decreed their doom. 

Those ideas of taste which are formed simply upon 
" what is worn this season," are always unreliable, and 
are apt to lead those who suffer themselves to be so 
guided, into many needless expenses ; while true taste, 
based upon the unvarying laws of color, form, and fit- 
ness, will preserve its followers from extravagance, and 
from that whimsicalness of attire which the devotees of 
mere Fashion are almost sure to exhibit. Even in 
plain colors, or narroAV stripes, etc., Fashion decrees 
frequent changes, but Economy requires that Fashion's 
views shall not be strictly followed. If any particu- 
lar shade is the approved novelty of the day, 
Economy knows that though pretty in itself, its very 
prevalence will, in another year, render it almost tire- 
some, and therefore that it will be better to purchase 



TASTE AND ECONOMY. 101 

a dress of a shade that has been overlooked of late, not 
only because it is at present cheaper, but because it will 
not as soon fatigue the eye. But in the choice of rib- 
bons, or other articles which are not expected to be 
worn more than one season, it is not necessary to regard 
this point. 

Those goods which are alike on both sides — whether 
plain or figured — as they can be turned, are more eco- 
nomical than those with but " one face ;" and those 
which have — in dressmaker's phrase — "no up nor down" 
to the figures, can be cut to better advantage than those 
in which the direction of the pattern must be considered. 
Indeed, it requires from one to three yards more mate- 
rial to cut a dress where care is necessary to match the 
figures, than when there is no such necessity. 

Colors that readily spot or fade are undesirable, even 
if the material is one which can be dyed without in- 
jury, which can scarcely ever be said of any but thick 
and soft all-wool fabrics. Very light shades should 
rarely be chosen in any but washable goods, for though 
the wearer may be one of the neatest and most careful 
of beings, she cannot avoid all contact with dust and 
dirt ; and she will feel decidedly more comfortable if 
her dress is one that can be washed or brushed into 
cleanliness, than if she is conscious that even a slight 
dinginess of hue must remain after her best efforts to 
remove the traces of a soiled car-seat, or the accidental 
touch of grimy fingers. 

In choosing trimmings, it is always best to select 
something that, like real lace, is ever in fashion, and 
can be used upon different dresses. A few yards of 
good lace may cost more in the first place, but in the 
end will be found to be more economical than the 



102 HINTS ON DEESS. 

cheaper sorts of trimming, or than cutting up into end- 
less ruffles and puffs, the stuff of which the dress is 
made, unless the latter is of some comparatively cheap 
material. 

Gloves may make either a light or a heavy item in 
our yearly expense book, very much as we choose. If 
we select only dark, neutral tints, black, or " invisible 
green " — best of all colors for those whose hands per- 
spire freely — we shall require a comparatively small 
number of pairs ; but if we indulge in very light 
shades, kid-gloves may cost us as much as an elegant 
velvet cloak, and yet our hands will be no more neatly 
clad than if we wore the darker colors. 

For expensive dresses we should prefer to buy the 
material and have it made up by a dressmaker in whom 
we have confidence, or by ourselves, if we possess the 
requisite skill, as we are then more certain of a perfect 
fit, and can also plan to have the stuff cut to advantage ; 
that is, so that it can be remodelled to suit the changes 
of style. But for business-suits, or any dresses made 
of the more serviceable, but comparatively inexpensive 
materials, as alpacas, linens, lawns, etc., it is usually 
more economical to buy the ready-made suits now 
offered at all our best dry-goods stores. These suits 
may frequently be purchased at but a slight advance of 
what would be the cost of the material alone to those who 
have not the privilege of buying at wholesale rates, if the 
purchaser has sufficient independence of character to 
buy a dress made in a fashion three or four months old. 
Of course the dress should be examined to make sure 
that it is well sewed, etc. ; but at a reliable dealer's — and 
we should patronize no other— this is always the case. 

One silk dress during the year, made up first as a 



TASTE AND ECONOMY. 103 

dress of ceremony, and the next year transformed into 
a suit, and its place taken by a new one, will keep a 
lady, who only does the average amount of visiting, 
very well supplied with silks, old and new ; while one 
really useful suit for winter, and another for summer, 
with an incidental linen, and two or three house dresses, 
will comprise, as far as dresses are concerned, a suffi- 
cient wardrobe. 

In respect to the manner of making dresses, the most 
important consideration is never to be led to the ex- 
treme of the mode, but rather to aim at the least ex- 
pense of money, material, time, and fuss, which will 
enable us to pass without an appearance of singularity. 
And this will ensure that a dress can be worn a much 
longer t.ine, without alteration, than if made in servile 
imitation of the fashion plates. Persons of taste — 
whether economically disposed or not — will avoid tor- 
menting their dress with an over abundance of trimming, 
or with exaggerated outlines. Thus, if we must wear 
paniers, they need not be of extravagant proportions ; if 
some trimming is essential to finish the skirt of a walk- 
ing dress, it is not necessary that we indulge in fifteen 
scalloped flounces ; if bonnets and hats are aspiring in 
tendency, it is not important that they resemble Towers 
of Babel ; or, if they incline to breadth of outline, it is 
not necessary that the sides should emulate the wings of 
a condor. In short, moderation in following the vaga- 
ries of fashion is one of the most essential principles 
whether of economy or taste. Or, in the words of 
Ruskin, which it is no perversion to apply to so impor- 
tant an external evidence of the mental state as dress : 

" The least appearance of violence or extravagance is 
destruction of all beauty-, whatsoever, in every thing, 



104: HINTS ON DEESS. 

color, form, motion, language, or thought, giving rise 
to that which in color we call glaring, in form inele- 
gant, in motion ungraceful, in language coarse, in 
thought undisciplined, in all unchastened." 

Both economy and taste insist upon the strict obser- 
vance of the previously given hints in regard to wear- 
ing any article of dress only upon suitable occasions. 
Scarcely anything is more wasteful than the habit of 
wearing, rich costly dressing, at inappropriate times and 
places. It is a frequent complaint that while the 
brocades and satins of " our grandmothers " endured 
for a quarter of a century or more, the silks and velvets 
of our own day will last but two or three years at most. 
There is, doubtless, some justice in the accusation of 
deterioration in the goods, but it should be remembered 
that our " venerated ancestresses " kept their one or two 
dresses of such expensive materials, solely for the " red 
letter days " of their lives, the weddings, the levees, etc. 
It never would have occurred to one of them to wear 
upon an ordinary calling excursion a silk that had cost 
$6.00 or $7.00 per yard, much less to don it when 
taking Teddy and Johnny to be fitted for new shoes. 

But at present, economy is looked upon by too many 
persons as an ignoble thing, smacking of penurious- 
ness, only to be practised when extravagance is impos- 
sible, and its tokens to be hidden as if they were evi- 
dences of crime. Yet, when we look at the " world of 
want" around us, it seems almost impossible to under- 
stand this perverted view. It would be quite so, were 
it not for a painful perception of the innate selfishness 
of many natures. Knowing this, and conscious of the 
fact that extravagance is but another name for selfish- 
ness, we can comprehend why it is that the generosity 



TASTE AND EC0N03IY. 105 

of economy is so despised. It is a truth, though oue 
not generally recognized, that nearly all avaricious 
people are lavish in expenditures for dress ; while the 
truly generous, those who can be depended upon to 
open their hearts and their purses to cases of want and 
suffering, are those who spend comparatively little for 
personal decoration. In opposition to this truth is the 
erroneous notion that those who spend money for 
dress by giving employment to factory laborers and 
seamstresses, are actually conferring a benefit. On this 
subject we feel that Buskin's words are far better than 
ours, and close our little volume with a paragraph from 
his lecture on the " management of riches." 

" If you are a young lady, and employ a certain num- 
ber of seamstresses for a given time, in making a 
given number of simple and serviceable dresses, sup- 
pose seven, of which you can wear one yourself for 
half the winter, and give six away to poor girls who 
have none, you are spending your money unselfishly. 
But if you employ the same number of seamstresses 
for the same number of days, in making four, or 
five, or six beautiful flounces for your own ball- 
dress — flounces which will clothe no one but yourself, 
and which you will yourself be unable to wear at more 
than one ball — you are employing your money selfishly. 
You have maintained, indeed, in each case the same 
number of people ; but in the one case you have di- 
rected their labor to service of the community : in the 
other case you have consumed it wholly upon yourself, 
I don't say you are never to do so ; I don't say you 
ought not sometimes to think of yourselves only, and 
to make yourselves as pretty as you can ; only do not 
confuse coquettishness with benevolence, nor cheat your- 



106 HINTS ON DRESS. 

selves into thinking that all the finery you can wear is 
so much put into the hungry mouths of those beneath 
you : it is not so ; it is what you yourselves, whether you 
will or no, must sometimes instinctively feel it to be — it 
is what those who stand shivering in the streets, form- 
ing a line to watch you as you step out of your car- 
riages, know it to be ; those fine dresses do not mean 
that so much less has been put into their mouths, but 
that so much has been taken out of their mouths. The 
real politico-economical signification of every one of 
these beautiful toilettes, is just this : that you have had 
a certain number of people put for a certain number 
of days wholly under your authority, by the sternest of 
slave-m asters — hunger and cold ; and you have said to 
them, ' I will feed you indeed, and clothe you, and give 
you fuel for so many days ; but during these days you 
shall work for me only ; your little brothers need 
clothes, but you shall make none for them ; your sick 
friend needs clothes, but you shall make none for her ; 
you yourself will soon need another, and a warmer 
dress ; but you shall make none for yourself. You shall 
make nothing but lace and roses for me ; for this 
fortnight to come, you shall work at the patterns and 
petals, and then I will crush and consume them away 
in an hour.' You will perhaps answer, c It may not be 
particularly benevolent to do this, and we won't call it 
so ; but at any rate we do no wrong in taking their 
labor when we pay them their wages : if we pay for 
their work we have a right to it.' No ; a thousand 
times no. The labor which you have paid for does 
indeed become, by the act of purchase, your own labor ; 
you have bought the hands and the time of these work- 
ers ; they are by right and justice your own hands, your 



TASTE AND ECONOMY. 107 

own time. But have you a right to spend your own 
time, to work with your own hands, only for your own 
advantage? much more when, by purchase, you have 
invested your own person with the strength of others ; 
and added to your own life a part of the life of others ? 
You may, indeed, to a certain extent, use their labor 
for your delight : remember I am making no general 
assertions against splendor of dress, or pomp of acces- 
sories of life ; on the contrary there are many reasons 
for thinking that we do not at present attach enough 
importance to beautiful dress as one of the means of 
influencing general taste and character. But I do say, 
that you must weigh the value of what you ask these 
workers to produce for you in its own distinct balance; 
that on its own worthiness or desirableness rests the 
question of your kindness, and not merely on the fact 
of your having employed people in producing it ; and 
I say further, that as long as there are cold and naked- 
ness in the land around you, so long there can be no 
question at all but that splendor of dress is crime." 



THE END. 



Wo, 3. Supplement to Catalogue. Sept., 1872* 



G. P. PUTNAM & SONS' 

LIST OF 

New Publications 

FOR THE 

AUTUMN SEASON, 1872. 



i. 

A New Work by the author of " Kaloolah." 
ATEVER AGAIN. 

Illustrated with numerous engravings, designed ana 
engraved by Gaston Fay. In one volume, about 6oo pages, 
uniform with " Kaloolah." 

ii. 

Also, a New Edition of 
T^ALOOLAH : 

-^ The Autobiography of Jonathan Romer of Nan- 
tucket. i2mo, cloth extra, $1.75. 

*** Some 15,000 copies of this celebrated work have been sold, and it is justly en 
titled to enduring popularity. 

" One of the most admirable pictures ever produced in this country." — Washington 
Irving. 

" The most singular and captivating romance since Robinson Crusoe."— Home 
Journal. 

" By far the most fascinating and entertaining book we have read since we were 
bewitched by the graceful inventions of the Arabian Nights."— Democratic Review. 

III. 

A veritable history of permanent interest. 
TV/TEMOIRS OF A HUGUENOT FAMILY. 

Translated from the Original Autobiography ot Rev. 
James Fontaine, by Ann Maury. With a translation of 
the Edict of Nantes (now first printed in English). i2mo, 
pp. 50S, cloth extra, $1.75. 



IV. 

A MANUAL OF POTTERY AND PORCELAIN, 
^■^ For American Collectors. By J. H. Treadwell. 
Richly illustrated, and containing full lists of Marks, Mono- 
grams, &c. Svo, cloth extra, beveled, gilt top, $3.00. 



T 



v. 

HE GREEKS OF TO-DAY. 

By The Hon. Charles K. Tuckerman, late Minister 
of the United States at Athens. i2mo, cloth extra, $1.50. 

Mr. Tuckerman has had exceptional opportunities for becoming acquainted with 
Greece and the Greeks ; and he has given the results of his observations in a series of 
clear and vivid studies that convey to the reader information of the greatest value and 
interest. 



T 



VI. 

3E ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
Early Annals. By Professor M. Schele De Vere, 
author of " Wonders of the Deep," " Comparative Philology, 
&c. i2mo, cloth extra, $1.50. 

Contents : 
Lo The Poor Indian. Our First Romance. Kaisers, Kings and Knights. 

The Hidden River. A Few Town Names. Lost Towns. 

Lost Lands. 

VII. 

HTHE MOTHER'S WORK WITH SICK CHILDREN. 
-*■ By Prof. F. B. Fonssagrives, M.D. Translated and 
edited by F. P. Foster, M.D. A volume full of the most prac- 
tical advice and suggestions for mothers and nurses. 

VIII. 

HTHE GREAT PROBLEM : 

■*- The Higher Ministry of Nature, Viewed in the 
Light of Modern Science, and as an Aid to Advanced Chris- 
tian Philosophy. By John R. Leifchild, A.M., author of 
" Our Coal Fields and Our Coal Pits," " Cornwall : Its Mines 
and Miners," &c, &c. Large i2mo, pp. 550, cloth. 

IX. 

A TORE WORLDS THAN ONE: 

^ A The Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of 
the Christian. By Sir David Brewster, K.H., M.A., 
D.C.L. i2mo, cloth, beveled, $1.75. 



X. 

piVE YEARS IN AN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY. 

*- By Charles Astor Bristed, late Foundation Scholar 
of Trinity College, Cambridge. Fourth Edition. Revised and 
amended by the Author. i2mo, cloth extra. 

A now edition of this standard work, for some years out of print, has long been 
called for. With its facts and statistics corrected and brought down to recent date, 
the volume conveys to the college graduate or undergraduate information of special 
value and importance, while the vivid and attractive record of a persoual experience 
contains much to interest the general reader. 

XI. 

TTARRY DELAWARE; 

•*- ■*■ or, An American in Germany. 8vo, paper, 50 cts. ; 

cloth, $1.25. 

In the shape of a gracefully told romance, the Author gives us a pleasing and 
characteristic description of life in a German watering place, and an interesting study 
of the German and American types of character there brought together. 

XII. 

'"THE POETICAL WORKS OF GEORGE HERBERT, 
-*• and The Synagogue. By C. Harvey. With an In- 
troduction by Jno. Nichol, B.A., Oxon. Prof. English Litera- 
ture, University of Glasgow. Text edited by Charles Covvden 
Clarke. i6mo, cloth extra, $1.50. 

NEW ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 



XIII. 

O AYS FROM THE EAST; 

^ or, Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures. Derived 
principally from the Manners, Customs, Rites and Antiquities 
of Eastern Nations. Richly illustrated. Small 4to, cloth gilt, 
$3.00. 

XIV. 

SKETCHES AND STORIES OF LIFE IN ITALY. 
^ By an Italian Countess. Fully illustrated. Square 
i2mo, cloth extra, gilt. 

XV. 

T^HE ANIMAL CREATION: 

A Popular Introduction to Zoology. By Thomas 
Rymer Jones, F.R.S., Prof, of Natural History, King's Col- 
lege, London. With 500 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 

$3-75- 



XVI. 

HPREASURES OF THE EARTH', 

-"- or, Mines, Minerals and Metals. With Anecdotes 
of Men connected with Mining. By Wm. Jones, F.S.A., 
author of " The Broad, Broad Ocean." Richly Illustrated. 
Large 121110, cloth extra, $2.50. 

XVII. 

TTOUSE BUILDING, 

From a Cottage to a Mansion. A Practical Guide 
to Members of Building Societies, and all interested in Select- 
ing or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, Architect, 
author of " Old English Mansions." With 600 Illustrations. 
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, $3.25. 

NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



XVIII. 

'"THE ROMANCE OF HISTORY.— FRANCE. 
-*" By Leitch Ritchie. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth ex., $2.50. 

XIX. 

^THE ROMANCE OF HISTORY.— ITALY. 
•*■ By B. A. Macfarlane. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth extra, 

$2.50. 

XX. 

HTHE CHILD'S PICTORIAL MUSEUM 

Of Birds, Beasts and Fishes. Richly Illustrated. 
4to, cloth, $2. 

XXI. 

T ITTLE TINY'S PICTURE BOOK. 

■*-"' With Illustrations in Colors, by Alfred Crowquill. 

4to, cloth, 90 cts. 

XXII. 

T^AIRY FANCIES. 

-"- From the German. By Lizzie Selma Eden. Crown 

Svo. Illustrated. Cloth extra, $1.50. 

XXIII. 

IVrURSERY TALES. 

■^ ^ 4to. Illustrated , $2. 

XXIV. 

TVTURSERY BALLADS. 

■^ 4to. Illustrated ' $2. 

XXV 

TVTURSERY SONGS. 
^ 4to. Illustrated $2. 



PUTIAM'S POPULAR IISTOEIES. 

Fifteen Volumes, in uniform style, handsomely bound, in a box. 
Cloth extra, $37.50. Half calf, $67.50. 

A HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Earliest Period to A.D. 

1871. With Special Reference to the Progres? of the People in Civilization, Litera- 
ture, and the Arts. By 13. J. Lossino. 

Small 8vo. With three Maps. Cloth extra $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

*»* This comprehensive volume is intended for popular use and the family library, as well as ft* 

Btudents. It claims to be more complete in its record of the political events in British history than any 

other volume of its size — while it aims particularly to trace the progress of society in all that relates to 

Domestic Life, to Fkactical Imfkov.eme.nts, and to Litxiiatuke, Science and Aet. 

II. 

"WASHINGTON AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. By 

Washington Irving. 
[Condensed from his larger work, but retaining all the narrative part in Irving's own language ; and 
forming a vivid picture of the events which led to the existence of the American Republic] 
Illustrated large 12mo, pp. 712. Cloth extra, $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 
III. 
THE TIMES OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. 
(1.) J>EPY'S DIARY. Large 12mo. Cloth $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

(2.) JJVELYN'S DIARY. Large 12mo. Cloth $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

IV. 

CORTES, AND THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. By Artiiub 

Helts. Author of " Spanish Conquest in America," " Friends in Council," etc. 

Two vols, in one. 12mo. $2.00 ; half calf, $4.00. 

V. 

^E SOTO, AND THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA. By Theo- 
dorb Irving. 

12mo. $2.00; half calf $4.00. 

VI. 

THE COURT AND TIMES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. By 

T TTCY* AlTvEN 

12mo. Cloth extra, $2.00 ; half calf, extra, $4.00. 
VII. 

gUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. New Edition, complete in 
three volumes. 

Large 12mo. $7.50 ; half calf, $15.50. 

yTO. 

QJBBON'S ROMAN EMPIRE. New edition, complete in three vols. 

Large 12mo. $7.50 ; half calf, $13.50. 
IX. 
.CYCLOPEDIA OF UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY. By Parke Godwin 
New Edition, revised and enlarged. 

Large 12mo. Cloth extra, $3.50 ; half calf, $5.00. 
"The student can hardly do without it. . . Condensing valuable information in the smallest possi- 
ble space, and forming a library of biography in itself."— Boston Transcript. 

X. 

THE WORLD'S PROGRESS; A Dictionary of Dates. Being a 
chronological and Alphabetical Record of all Essential Facts in the Progress of 
Society from the Creation of the World to the Present Time. With a Chart. 
In one large volume (about 1000 pages). Price $3.50 ; half calf, $5.00. 
■ # * The most comprehensive book of its 3ize and price in the language. 



NEW EDITIONS OF STANDARD ILLUSTRATED 

BOOKS. 

A Superb Illustrated Edition of D'Aubigne's Great Work. 

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN THE SIX- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 
By J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, D.D. With twelve engravings 
on steel and 200 illustrations on wood, including portraits of 
the most eminent Reformers. In one splendid vol. folio, 724 
large pages, elegantly bound in clo'h extra, gilt edges, $10.00. ; 
half morocco, $13.50 ; full morocco, $16.00. 

*#* This superb volume is eminently worthy of a place in every intelligent family. 
It is by far the handsomest edition of this great work ; the engravings are first-class in 
all respects. G. P. Putnam & Sons are the sole publishers of this edition in the United 
States, having exclusive arrangements with the publishers in Scotland. 

A New and Splendid Volume of American Art. 

HTHE GALLERY OF LANDSCAPE PAINTERS. 

American Scenery Illustrated by American 
Artists. Comprising twenty-four highly finished engravings 
on steel, from paintings by Casilear, Kensett, Whittredge, 
Gignoux, Colman, Inness, Win. Hart, De Haas, Jas. M. Hart, 
Wm. H. Beard, Hubbard, G. L. Brown, Thos. Hill, J. D. 
Smillie, G. H. Smillie, Momberger. With letterpress de- 
scriptions. In one vol. large 4to. ; elegantly bound in cloth 
extra, beveled, gilt edges, price $18.00 ; morocco extra, $30.00. 

*#* This beautiful volume is much the finest of its kind yet produced in the 
Un ited States. As a gift-book of high character and solid elegance it is not surpassed 
by liny European work of its price. 

HTHE EARTH : 

(The original English Edition reduced in price.) A De- 
scriptive History of the Phenomena of the Life of the 
Globe. By Elisee Reclus. Translated from the French. 
Profusely illustrated with plain and colored maps and engrav- 
ings. In two vols, royal 8vo, cloth extra, beveled, gilt tops, 
price reduced to $7.00. ; half-calf extra, $12.00. ; or two vols, 
bound in one, heavy morocco cloth, $6.00. ; half-calf extra, 
$9.00. 

*#* This elaborate work has been produced at very large expense, but our arrange- 
ments with the English publishers enable us to publish it at a moderate price. 

" The work deserves the widest circulation, for its general perusal cannot fail of a 
most salutary effect in augmenting the popular knowledge of the globe we live upon, 
and stimulating a deeper study of special branches of geographical science."— iV. Y. 
Evening Post. 



io G. P. PUTNAM &• SONS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Ill— POPULAR SCIENCE— Phtsioal. 



CHILD'S BENEDICITE; or, Illustrations of the Power, Wis- 
dom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in His Works. By 
G. Chaplin Child, M.D. From the London edition of John Murray. With an 
Introduction by Henry G. Weston, D.D. One vol. i2mo. Elegantly printed 
on tinted paper, cloth extra, bevelled, $2.00 ; half calf, $4. 

CHIEF CONTENTS. 

Introduction. The Stars. Lightning and Clouds. The Winds. 

The Heavens. Winter and Summer. Showers and Dew. Fire and Heat. 

The Sun and Moon. Nights and Days. Wells. Frost and Snow. 

The Planets. Light and Darkness. Seas and Floods. Etc., etc. 

"The most admirable popular treatise of natural theology. It is no extravagance to say that 
we have never read a more charming book, or one which we can recommend more confidently Io 
our readers with the assurance that it will aid them, as none that we know of can do, to 

' Look through Nature up to Nature's God.' 
Every clergyman would do well particularly to study this book. For the rest, the handsome volume 
is delightful in appearance, and is one of the most creditable specimens of American book-making 
that has come from the Riverside Press." — Round Table, N. Y. 

COOPER. Rural Hours. By a Lady. (Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper.) 
New edition, with additions. One vol. i2mo, $2.50. 

" One of the most interesting volumes of the day, displaying powers of mind of a high order." 
—Mrs. Hale's Women's Record. 

"An admirable portraiture of American out-door life, just as it is." — Prof. Hart. 

DENISON. Astronomy without Mathematics. By Edmund Beckett 
Denison, LL.D., Q.C., F.R.A.S. From the fourth London edition. 
Edited, with corrections and notes, by Pliny E. Chase, A.M. i2mo, cloth, $ 1.75. 

DE VERE. Wonders of the Deep. By M. Scheie de Vere, Professor 
in the University of Virginia. Third editioD, i2mo, cloth, $1.50. Illus- 
trated, cloth gilt, $2. 

CHIEF CONTENTS.. 

Pearls. Corals. Facts and Fables. Mercury. Oysters. Lighthouses. Odd Fish. Knight 
in Armor. A Pinch of Salt. A Grain of Sand. The Earth in Trouble. 

"One of the freshest, most scientific, and at the same time most popular and delightful books 
of the kind we have ever read." — St. John's Telegraph. 

Stray Leaves from the Book of Nature. New edition, illustrated. 

i2mo, cloth, $1.50. 

FAY. A New System of Geography. By Hon. Theo. S. Fay. With 
finely executed maps. For Families and for Students. i2mo, with Atlas, 
quarto. Third edition, half-bound, $2.75. [See separate Circular.] 

These volumes have been prepared with the greatest oare, and have cost several years of labor, 
ander the suggestions and supervisions of Humboldt, Rirter, and the most eminent Geographer* 



POPULAR SCIENCE— PHYSICAL, n 

and Astronomers of Europe. They are on a new plan, and the maps and illustrations are admira- 
bly executed, at large expense. 

"The Great Oudine of Geography can neither be dispensed with nor superseded." — Henri 
B. Tappan, late President of the Michigan University. 

"It makes Geography almost a new science." — Henry W. Bellows, D.D. 

" Comprehensive and complete." — N. Y. Nation. 

"It gives life to what seemed before a dead science." 

"The book improves upon acquintance. My classes are much interested, and teaching is a 
pleasure." — E. A. Gibbons, Harvard Rooms, N. Y. 

FIELD. Green-Houses and Green-House Plants. By F. E. Field. 
With Introduction by William Cullen Bryant. With illustrations. i2mo, 
cloth, 75 cents. 

GUILLEMIN. The Heavens : An Illustrated Hand-Book oi 
Popular Astronomy. By A. Guillemin. New edition. (Edited by 
Messrs. Lockyer and Proctor, the Astronomers. ) With numerous illustrations. 
Svo, cloth extra, $4.50; half calf extra, $7.50. 

"The publication of this splendidly illustrated hand-book of popular astronomy is quite an era 
in the art of popularizing that most exciting of sciences. No book has ever been published cal- 
culated in an equal degree to realize the different astronomical spectacles of the heavens to the 
mind of an ordinary reader. Of all the marvels of astronomy, M. Amedee Guillemin and his 
gorgeous illustrations give us a far more vivid conception than any work on the subject known to 
us." — Spectator. 

MOLLOY. Geology and Revelation; or, The Ancient History 
of the Earth, considered in the Light of Geological Facts and 
Revealed Religion. With illustrations. By the Rev. Gerald Molloy, D.D. 
With an Introduction to the American Edition by an eminent Geologist, and an 
Appendix containing Prof. Dana's Chapter on Cosmogony. i2mo, cloth extra, 
price $2. 

RECLUS. The Earth: A Descriptive History of the Phenomena 
of the Life of the Globe. By Elisee Reclus. Translated from the 
French. Profusely illustrated with plain and colored maps and engravings. In 
two vols, royal 8vo, cloth extra, bevelled, gilt tops, $10; half calf extra, $15. 

*#* This elaborate work has been produced at very large expense, but our arrangements with 
the English publishers enable us to publish it at a moderate price. 

" Few foreign works devoted to the illustration of popular science that have been brought 
before the American public, can compare with the present admirable volumes for richness of 
material and felicity of execution. Not only the vast amount of information concerning the 
phenomena of the physical world that is embodied in their contents, but the compactness and 
lucidity of their method, and the chaste beauty of their style, commend them to the attention of the 
intelligent reader and promise equal delight and improvement from the diligent study of their 
pages." — N. Y. Tribune. 

"The work deserves the widest circulation, for its general perusal cannot fail of a most salutary 
effect in augmenting the popular knowledge of the globe we live upon, and stimulating a deeper 
study of special branches of geographical science." — N. Y. Evening Fost. 

ST. JOHN. Elements of Geology, for the Use of Students. By 
Samuel St. John, Prof, of Chemistry in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons. Twelfth thousand. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth, $1.50. 

*** The publisher is advised from all quarters that this is the best manual of the kind Cos 
nstruction in Geology, and for popular use. 



13 G. P. PUTNAM & SONS' PUBLICATIONS. 



POPULAR SCIENCE— Mental, Moral, 
Political. 



BASCOM. Principles of Psychology. By John Bascom, Professor in 
Williams College. i2mo, pp. 350, $1.75. 

"All success to the students of physical science ; but each of its fields may have its triumphs, 
und the secrets of mind remain as unapproachable as hitherto. With philosophy and not without 
it, under its own laws and not under the laws of a lower realm, must be found those clues of suc- 
cess, those principles of investigation, which can alone place this highest form of knowledge in Vs 
true position. The following treatise is at least a patient effort to make a contribution to this, amid 
all failures, chief department of thought." — Extract from Pre/ace. 

BASCOM. Science, Philosophy, and Religion. By John Bascom, 
author of Psychology, etc. 121110, cloth, $1.75. 

I T) LACKWELL. Studies in General Science. By Antoinette Brown 
X3 Blackwell. i2mo (uniform with Child's " Benedicite"). Cloth 
extra, $2.25. 

"The writer evinces admirable gifts both as a student and thinker. She brings a sincere anJ 
earne st mind to the investigation of truth." — N. Y. Tribune. 

"The idea of the work is an excellent one, and it is ably developed." — Boston Transcript.* 

CHADBOURNE. Natural Theology; or, Nature and the Bible 
from the same Author. Lectures delivered before the Lowell Insti- 
tute, Boston. By P. A. Chadbourne, A.M., M.D., President of University of 
Wisconsin. i2mo, cloth, $2.00; Student's Edition, $1.50. 

"Prof. Chadboume's book is among the few metaphysical ones now published, which, once 
taken up, cannot be laid aside unread. It is written in a perspicuous, animated style, combining 
depth of thought and grace of diction, with a total absence of ambitious display." — Washington 
National Republic. 

" In diction, method, and spirit, the volume is attractive and distinctive to a rare degree." — 
Boston Traveller. 

CHADBOURNE. Lectures on Instinct. By P. A. Chadbourne, 
author of ' ' Natural Theology. ' ' 1 2mo. (In press. ) 

HYACINTHE. Life, Speeches, and Discourses of Pere Hyacinthe. 
Edited by Rev. L. W. Bacon. One vol. i2mo, cloth, $1.25. 

"We are quite sure that these Discourses will increase Father Hyacinthe's reputation among 
us, as a man of rare intellectual power, genuine eloquence, ripe scholarship, and most generous 
sympathies. "—National Baptist, Philadelphia. 

"The Discourses will be found fully up to the high expectation formed from the great priest's 
protests against the trammels of Romish dogmatism." — Rochester Democrat. 

HYACINTHE. The Family. A Series of Discourses by Father Hya- 
cinthe. To which are added, The Education of the Working Classes; 
The Church — Six Conferences; Speeches and Addresses. With an Historical 
Introduction. By Hon. John Bigelow. i2mo, $1.50. 

N. B. — Both books are published under Father Hyacinthe's sanction, and he receives a copy- 
right on the sales. 



POPULAR SCIENCE— Physiology, Health, Domestic Life. 13 

SMITH. A Manual of Political Economy. By E. Peshine Smith. 
12010, $1.50. 

*** A comprehensive text-book, specially suggested and approved by Henry C. Carey and 
other eminent political economists. 

T X pAT IS FREE TRADE ? By Emile Walter. i2mo, $1.00. 

" An unanswerable argument against the follies of protection, and a stinging satire on the 
advocates of that policy, which would enrich us by doubling our expenses. Wit and sarcasm of 
the sharpest and brightest sort are used by the author with great effect" — N. Y. Citizen. 

" The most telling statements of the leading principles of the free trade theory ever published, 
and is, perhaps, unsurpassed in the happiness of its illustrations." — The Nation. 



IV.— POPULAR SCIENCE.— Physiology, Health, 
Domestic Life. 



PUTNAM S HANDY-BOOK SERIES FOR THE FAMILY. 

BEARD. Eating and Drinking : Food and Diet in Health and 
Disease. By Geo. M. Beard, M.D. i2mo, paper, $0.50; cloth, $0.75. 

BEARD. Stimulants and Narcotics, Medically and Morally con- 
sidered. By Geo. M. Beard, M.D., i2mo, paper, $0.50; cloth, $0.75. 

GRISCOM, J. H. M.D. ON THE USE OF TOBACCO. 32010, 
paper, $0.25. 

HINTON. Health and its Conditions. By James Hinton, author of 
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HOPE. Till the Doctor Comes, and How to Help Him. A 
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Revised, with additions, by a New York Physician. i2mo, paper, 30c; cloth, 60c 

WHAT SHALL WE EAT? A Manual for Housekeepers. 
i2mo, paper, $0.50 ; cloth, $0.75. 

The design of this Manual is to suggest what is seasonable for the table, each day in the week ; 
and how it shall be cooked, without the trouble of thinking. It provides an agreeable variety, 
which may be changed to suit the income of the reader. A collection of Pickles and Sauces of 
rare merit forms a desirable addition at the end. 



+ PIWEETSER. Human Life: Its Conditions and Duration. By 
j^ Wm. Sweetser, M.D. i2mo, $1.50. 

" The subject is curious and interesting ; the reason is logical and lucid. Some of the facts 
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"A sensible and well-written treatise."— iV. Y. Albion. 

WHAT MAKES ME GROW? or, Walks and Talks with 
Amy Dudley. With two illustrations by Frolich. i6mo, cloth 

extra, $1. 

%* A charming and useful little book for juveniles from six to twelve years. It is well adapted 
also for Sunday-school libraries. 



NEW VOLUMES OF THE HANDY-BOOK SERIES, 
READY IN SEPTEMBER. 

VII. 

TTOW TO EDUCATE YOURSELF. A complete Guide 

for Students, showing how to study, what to study, 

and how and what to read. It is in short a " Pocket 

Schoolmaster." By Geo. Cary Eggleston (Editor Hearth and 

Home). i2mo, cloth, 75 cts. 

VIII. 

OOCIAL ECONOMY. By Prof. E. Thorold Rogers 
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gland), Editor of " Smith's Wealth of Nations." Revised and 
edited for American Readers. i2mo, cloth, 75 cts. 

This little volume gives in the compass of 150 pages, concise yet com. 
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The relations of men to each other, the nature of property, the meaning of 
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government, the character of business, are all set forth with clearness and 
scientific thoroughness. The book, from its simplicity and the excellence 
of its instruction, is especially adapted for use in schools, while the 
information it contains is of value and interest to all classes of readers. 



H 



IX. 
INTS ON DRESS. By an American Woman. 

CON TENTS : 

Outline Histort 07 Dress. Economy and Taste. 

Things Indispensable. What we Mean bt Dressing Well. 

Estimates of Cost. Color, Form, Suitability. 

How and What to Buy. I2 mo, cloth, ]$ cts. 

X. 

'""PHE HOME. Where it should be, and what to put 
in it. Containing hints for the selection of a home its 
furniture and internal arrangements, with carefully prepared 
price lists of nearly everything needed by a housekeeper, and 
numerous valuable suggestions for saving money and gaining 
comfort. By Frank R. Stockton (of Hearth and Home). 

6. P. PUTNAM k SONS, Publishers, 

Mil Ave. and 23d St., New York. 



PUTNAM'S POPULAR HISTORIES. 

Fifteen Volumes, in uniform style, handsomely bound, in a box. 

Cloth extra, $37.60. Half calf, $67.50. 

^ HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Earliest Period to A.D. 

1871. With Special Reference to the Progress of the People in Civilization, Litera 
ture, and the Arts. By B. J. Lossing. 

Small Svo. With three Maps. Cloth extra $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

*.* This comprehensive volume is intended for popular use and the family library, as well as toi 

students. It claims to be more complete in its record of the political events in British" history than any 

other volume of its size— while it aims particularly to trace the progress of society in all that relates tc 

Domestic Life, to Practical Improvements, and to Litekatuee, Science and Art. 

II. 

"WASHINGTON AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. By 

Washington Irving. 
[Condensed from his larger work, but retaining all the narrative part in Irving's own language ; and 
forming a vivid picture of the events which led to the existence of the American Republic] 
Illustrated large 12ino, pp. 712. Cloth extra, $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

III. 
THE TIMES OF CilAKLES II. AKD JAMES II. 
(1.) J>EPY'S DIARY. Large 12mo. Cloth $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

(2.) JJVELYN'S DIARY. Large 12mo. Cloth $2.50 ; half calf, $4.50. 

IV. 

QORTES, AND THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. By Arthur 

Helps. Author of " Spanish Conquest in America," " Friends in Council," etc. 

Two vols, in one. 12mo. $2.00 ; half calf, $4.00. 

V. 

IDE SOTO, AND THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA. By Theo 

dor« Irving. 

12mo. $2.00; half calf $4.00. <• 

VI. 

^HE COURT AND TIMES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. By 

Lucy Aiken. 

12mo. Cloth extra, $2.00 ; half calf, extra, $4.00. 

VII. 

HUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. New Edition, complete in 
three volumes. 

Large 12mo. $7.50 ; half calf, $12.50. 

mi. 

QJBBON'S ROMAN EMPIRE. New edition, complete in three vols. 

Large 12mo. $7.50 ; half calf, $13 50. 
IX. 

CYCLOPEDIA OF UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY. By Parke Godwin 
New Edition, revised and enlarged. 

Large 12mo. Cloth extra, $3.50 ; half calf, $5.00. 
"The student can hardly do without it. . . Condensing valuable information in the smallest possi- 
ble apace, and forming a library of biography in itself."— Boston Transcript. 

X. 
^HE WORLD'S PROGRESS; A Dictionary of Dates. Being a 
chronological and Alphabetical Record of all Essential Facts in the Progress of 
Society from the Creation of the World to the Present lime. With a Chart. 
In one large volume (about 1000 pages). Price $3.50 ; half calf, $5.00. 
• # * The moat comprehensive book of iU size and price in the language. 



